From The Ashes
by FatesAwakener
Summary: Amaya Shirogane has been brought to Tokyo by his sister around the time of the Kaneshiro Arc. He soon finds himself stuck on a huge trip with the Metaverse and Phantom Thieves. I wish to know your opinions on what has been done so far. Chapters might take a week or more from now on.
1. Light the Way

Disclaimer:

I do not own the Persona Series, that belongs to Atlus and Sega, but Amaya Shirogane is my original character. This is a redo of the original chapters. I hope this will be different enough to stand up to the expectations that I have set for myself.

Light the Way (Amaya POV)

6/21/XX

Amaya was sick of things in his life-changing. It has been less than a week since his grandfather, one of the only two people he felt really cared about him, had passed away from a heart attack. Then his sister, who he never really saw much of, just uprooted his life and dragged him with her to Tokyo. He had an assumption that she was moving there to investigate the Phantom Thieves as well as strange Mental disorders that had been plaguing the city of Tokyo as of late, but didn't really care enough to ask her about it.

Amaya was looking out the window at the rain and every now and then saw his reflection off of the window. His blue hair and eyes had both looked better in the past. His eyes were now dulled and dead without the spark of power that he used to possess. His blue hair was in his usual style, that of his personal favorite double curve wave. However, there was one thing that he kept seeing in his reflection that kept making him angry; the scar he had that ran from the top to the below his right eye socket. This stupid thing was a constant reminder to him of things in his past he would rather like to forget entirely. These things he would like to forget were numerous and very much present, much to Amaya's dismay. Sometimes Amaya wished that he hadn't survived the incident and maybe if he hadn't then he wouldn't have been as badly treated as he had been. The only thing that made this worse was the fact that now everyone who had cared for him was gone; his parents were dead and had been for some time; his grandfather died super recently; their butler, Yakushiji, had retired the year prior per their grandfather's request and Naoto…

Naoto was right in front of him in the driver's seat of the car, but to Amaya, she couldn't seem further away. After the incident that gave him his cursed scar Naoto had changed and had pretty much become a different person. She would yell at him for no reason, accuse him of being useless, and even side with their family on issues they had about him. Amaya had hated this so much he just locked himself away and had almost become suicidal. He only seemed to have one ally; a special friend he met online. He didn't know their real name, all he knew was they came from similar circumstances and they had similar interests in many things. After Yakushiji had been able to get Amaya to leave his room and at least be in the presence of his immediate family again Amaya had developed something of a second personality. This personality helped Amaya become more assertive, advocative, and surprisingly aggressive. Amaya was so used to this personality now that he had basically let it become who he was and didn't care all too much if he left himself behind.

The Phantom Thieves interested Amaya though, he was proud of how they were able to expose the heinous crimes committed by Suguru Kamoshida and Ichiryusei Madarame and got them to beg for forgiveness like the scum they are. Amaya had done some digging and due to Kamoshida was able to discern that at least some of the Phantom Thieves were students of Shujin Academy where he would soon be attending. Amaya was thinking since he would likely be extremely bored at the Academy, maybe he would try to see if he could guess who the Phantom Thieves were, that is if it wasn't for the fact of another student at the academy: his sister's "successor" Goro Akechi. Akechi would likely make school difficult for Amaya if he could, making Amaya really want to be in the school as little as possible. Amaya was also thinking about where he was going to be living. He and Naoto were moving into the Shibuya Province of Tokyo and Amaya seemed to remember they were getting a big apartment or penthouse belonging to a friend of Naoto's: the CEO of the Kirijo Group, Mitsuru Kirijo. Amaya didn't know how his sister knew a billionaire but he didn't really care much about even asking. He had such a dull sense of most of the world that he felt like the world could be on fire and he would just walk through it and wouldn't really care.

Eventually, the rain started to slow but the night was starting to show and Amaya saw in the distance the lights of the Tokyo Skyline. As they got closer he saw ads and news broadcasts coming from the street displays. He noticed when they drove near the famous Shibuya Crossing and felt as the car eventually stopped in the parking garage of one of the tall buildings. Amaya heard Naoto unbuckle her seat belt and turn to him in the back seat. She had a look of worry on her face and a downcast look in her eyes.

"Hey Ami, you alright? You haven't spoken much since the Estate and I thought you were asleep."

Amaya felt a little sting of pain for a second but responded regardless. "I'm fine. I have just been lost in thought. Do you need help carrying the luggage? I will help if needed of course."

The look Naoto was giving him almost looked like fear and in his reflection, Amaya thought he could even make out that his right eye was yellow. He disregarded this thought as it was illogical.

"Um, sure Ami. I am going to get the trolley so we don't have to take as many trips but can you start taking the luggage out of the back of the car?"

Naoto got out and Amaya opened his door and was about to get out when he got the flash of a figure in his mind. This figure had black hair, yellow eyes, a scar that matched Amaya's and chuckled in a way that made Amaya twitch and jerk uncontrollably. Almost as soon as this happened, however, the figure vanished, and the pain Amaya had felt had subsided. Amaya then got up and opened the trunk and began unloading their luggage.

When everything was on the trolley Amaya and Naoto got it on the elevator and headed up to the floor of their new home; the 17th floor of this building. Apparently 5 floors above them lived the billionaire CEO of Okumura Foods which made this building extremely expensive to live in. Naoto opened the package with their keys and gave one to Amaya, put one on her keyring and put the third in a hidden compartment that she had been told was in the compartment with the fire extinguisher. When Amaya entered the penthouse he was very impressed with the place, more than he thought he would be at least. The living room was massive and had a massive pane of glass that showed the beauty of the Tokyo Skyline. The furniture looked majorly comfortable and looked like the couch worked as an extra bed which was always cool. The kitchen looked really nice and had one of those cold water fountains on the front which Amaya was happy about. He then looked down the hallway and saw 5 rooms. Naoto had told him the contents of these rooms. Three of the rooms were bedrooms each with a private bathroom. However, the room at the end of the hall confused Amaya as it held a mini swimming pool. The final room, Mitsuru had told them, was holding training equipment making Amaya excited. Amaya was going to likely prefer being home than being at school. He was already anticipating this since he assumed Naoto would be stuck at the station often, leaving Amaya home alone much of the time. He was fine with this. Things might not actually be as bad as he had first thought they would be. He didn't notice but there was a small smirk appearing on his face which Naoto noticed.

"Well well well, Amaya Shirogane cracked a smirk," Naoto said, "I take it you like the place. How about you take your bag into your room and we deal with the rest of the luggage later?"

Amaya mentally jumped hearing that and forced his expression to be blank once again and just said "Sure." He took his bag of essentials to his room and closed the door behind him. He then and got his nightwear on and went to bed.

The Next Day. 6/22/XX

Amaya woke up to the smell of what seemed to be a big breakfast. He could pick up the scent of eggs, bacon, toast, and even the super faint smell of freshly squeezed lemonade. Amaya dragged himself out of bed and walked out of the door and saw Naoto and a man of whom he didn't recognize. Naoto was talking to this man with a very happy expression on her face which made Amaya believe that she knew this person. Amaya decided to try sneaking to the luggage in the back of the room as to not disturb the two. However, there was one thing he didn't count on, that is the fact there were 2 people here. Amaya noticed this when about halfway to the luggage he saw out of the corner of his eye his sister's company twitch his head in what seemed to almost be instinct and his line of sight fell right on Amaya. Amaya flinched as the other man turned toward him.

"Well, hello. You must be the Amaya I have heard so much about, it is nice to finally meet you."

Naoto upon hearing that jumped in surprise and looked over in Amaya seemingly surprised to see him there. Amaya, however, was more interested in the other guy who he was now able to get a good look at. He had dull grey hair, looked around Naoto's age and had a shirt on that said Tokyo U on it. Amaya felt a little odd looking at him because it almost felt like he had seen or met this guy before but instead of just confusing himself he felt that he might as well get a name to place with the face and put on his other identity and spoke.

"Yes, I am Amaya, Amaya Shirogane, nice to meet you, may I have your name?"

This guy didn't even flinch at the dry and lifeless tone Amaya just possessed and calmly replied just as calm as his reply.

"My name is Yu Narukami. I am an old friend of your sisters and now that she is here and I don't have classes yet this morning figured it would be nice to stop by."

Amaya had mixed feelings about this Narukami guy but if he is a friend of Naoto's and she wasn't having any concerns before she knew Amaya was in the room he would at least try to be nice to this individual. Amaya did have another assumption however when it came to him which he got through seeing Naoto's phone background when they were packing up in the estate. Her wallpaper was of the 2 of them and they both seemed to be happy which made Amaya assume that this Yu Narukami was his sister's boyfriend he heard her talking about with Yakushiji and their grandfather over the past few years. For all Amaya cared if that was the case would be as long as he cares for her and makes her happy Amaya would be okay with it. Amaya decided to try to at least make a good impression as to not potentially push someone close to Naoto away so he decided to at least make it looked like he cared. He took a bow towards Narukami.

"It is great to meet you Narukami-san." Narukami seemed slightly taken aback by this and returned the bow.

"Likewise Amaya-san. Or should I just call you Shirogane-san?" Amaya mentally chuckled at this and decided to end that particular weirdness.

"You can just call me Amaya, I prefer that and the only person I let call me my 'nickname' is Naoto." Naoto burst out laughing here and it looked almost like she could be crying a little from his jest.

"HAHAHA! Ami, you afraid of what would happen if anyone else calls you that?" Amaya didn't even want that to be an option.

"If anyone other than you calls me that I will make sure they don't call me that again. That is all I'm saying on that subject." Naoto stopped laughing at that obviously not hidden threat and he even saw Narukami flinch by the venom that he spat out of his mouth.

A minute of silence later and Narukami seemed to decide he wanted to speak up.

"Also Amaya, you can just call me Yu. All my friends call me that and Narukami-san makes me think my father is around." Amaya understood what he meant and they had a sort of unspoken agreement to not continue on that subject.

Naoto then turned to Amaya again with an excited look on her face as if she just remembered something important.

"Oh yeah Ami, today we are supposed to go to Shujin Academy and show you around." Naoto then turned to Yu. "Would you like to go with us Yu? You said Teddie works there now." Nazrukami seemed surprised to be asked this and was taken aback and his eyebrows were raised.

"Oh, uh, sure why not. If that wouldn't be getting in the way of anything important..." Naoto shook her head quickly there and smiled at him.

"Of course you can come with us. It won't cause any issues. Do you have any issue him coming with us to Shujin Ami?"

"None at all from me Nao."

"Alright, good. See Yu? You can come along." Narukami seemed happy to hear this and smiled for the first time during this conversation.

"Very well. Thank you."

-Shujin Academy-

Narukami dropped Naoto and Amaya off at the front door while he went to go park the car. Naoto and Amaya entered the school and walked up to reception. The receptionist upon seeing them seemed to get very excited and waved at them.

"Ah, Naoto-san! Long time no see! How are you doing?"

"I'm doing fine Teddie, it is nice to see you. If you are here I assume the situation with your home has been resolved?" This "Teddie" seemed to puff up his chest at that comment.

"Of course it has been dealt with. I am Teddie Hanamura after all!" Naoto seemed like she was trying to stop herself from rolling her eyes.

"I thought you changed your name to Kujikawa. Did Rise stop you by force again?" Teddie seemed really proud by that comment for some reason.

"Oh, she just asked that I don't do that now. I don't know if you knew but Rise-chan and I have started dating." Amaya saw Naoto's eyes widen at this and Amaya sees as a smile appears on her face.

"Congratulations Teddie! I hope you and Rise have a good relationship." Naoto's face then becomes very dark. "But remember, If you do so much as to break her heart, know that I won't forgive you, _Ever_." Teddie's face becomes one of fear but he nods with a serious look on his face.

Amaya feels a little out of place here and decided to try and sit down in the lobby until he is needed. Naoto however noticed and got the topic at hand back up.

"Oh yeah, Teddie, this is my brother Amaya. We came here to do the paperwork." Teddie jumped up and ran over to the desk in the back of the room and grabbed a packet of papers then ran back, handing them to Naoto with a clipboard and pen.

"This is the paperwork." Teddie then turns to Amaya, "Hello, Amaya-Kun. It is nice to finally meet you. My name is Theodore Hanamura but your sister and all of our friends just call me Teddie."

"It is nice to meet you Teddie-San."

Naoto and Amaya went through the transfer paperwork and turned it into Teddie and they went to go talk to the Principal, Kotaro Kobayakawa, and his new homeroom teacher Sadayo Kawakami. They mostly talked about things like how he would be in the same homeroom as someone with a criminal record and the scandal about Kamoshida. The only thing that Amaya was actually invested in during the conversation was when Kobaykawa mentioned that he would have protection from the student council so that he wouldn't get swarmed by students which Amaya was happy about. All and all the meeting went well and it seemed that Amaya would be going in for his first day the next day. When Amaya and Naoto got back to the lobby they saw Narukami having a conversation with Teddie and Naoto and Amaya were about to join them when Mrs. Kawakami and a girl with short brown hair walked up to them.

"Mrs. Shirogane, Amaya-Kun, this is Makoto Niijima. She is the president of the student council here and I thought that now would be the best time to have you have a tour of the school."

"That sounds good. Ami, why don't you go for the tour and when you are finished come back? Yu and I are going to be here talking with Teddie, does that sound okay with you?" Amaya was at least happy he wouldn't be there listening to a conversation he wasn't a part of so at least there was that.

"Sure, I'm fine going on a tour, it gives me a chance to get my barrings before coming back here tomorrow." Everyone was in agreement and Mrs. Kawakami turned to Niijima.

"Would it be okay if I leave this to you Niijima-San? I have to go back to 2D and teach my assigned class."

"That is fine by me Kawakami-Sensei. Amaya-Kun, would you follow me?"

With that Amaya followed Niijima and Naoto went to talk to Teddie.

-Shujin Academy Student Council Room-

Amaya followed Niijima onto the third floor from the practice building and she went into the room labeled 'Student Council' Amaya figured it was okay and followed her in. When he opened the door he locked eyes with someone he didn't want to see. This person had a flattened down head of brown hair, a suit that definitely didn't fit a high schooler and an unceremonious scowl on his face. The high school detective, Goro Akechi. Akechi was looking pretty angry and looked right at him.

"Why are YOU here?" Amaya had expected this and let his second personality take over once again.

"Same reason you are. Like I had a choice, I'm a minor after all." Akechi seemed to get angrier at the condescending nature Amaya just exerted and Niijima looked at him shocked.

"You are the sibling of the best detective of the modern age. What do you mean you have no choice?" Amaya heard what almost seemed to be deep chuckling going on in his head.

"What makes you think that means _anything_? Seven years ago she wouldn't have cared if I was dead! You have a following and all I have is a fucking scar that the cause of would give you nightmares! You have no right to be on such a high ass horse and assume things have always gone better for others! You think I would be acting like this if I was as much of a spoiled brat as you act like during your interviews!?"

Akechi now shared a look of both shock and curiosity. Amaya saw in the reflection of the trophy case in the back of the room one of his eyes seemed to be yellow again which Amaya shook his head to shoot down and when he looked again the yellow color was gone again. Niijima was looking even more shocked at what Amaya had said and didn't seem like she even knew how to assess the situation. Akechi though after a moment looked down and mumbled. Amaya felt as his other personality seemed like it had had enough for the moment and Amaya took over again and felt he might have said too much to Akechi.

"Uh, sorry about that. I think I went too far with that." Akechi was still looking down but responded with a much more controlled tone than he had before.

"No, you're right, I should be the one apologizing. I guess I have a natural disdain for people who I feel have a better standing than I do. Even if what you said hurt to hear, I feel that you are right. I may have needed to hear that honestly." Amaya looked down at Akechi, not with a look of pity but a look of remorse for whatever reason he didn't know. Akechi had almost done a 180 on the attitude he had when Amaya first walked in which confused Amaya just as much as that tangent he went on.

Amaya and Akechi had a conversation with Niijima who told them about the student council protection they were on. Apparently they were barred from doing physical education classes in the fear of injury from either equipment or by students and faculty which neither of them really seemed to mind. They were also not supposed to exert their special services or in other words brag about them to other students which seemed like a given. Lastly, they were told that while they were allowed to leave campus they were not allowed to go anywhere other than Shibuya per their requirements with their programs with the school which they both accepted. After the talk ended Akechi excused himself, apologized to Amaya and went to his next class. Amaya and Niijima headed back down to the lobby so he could go home for the day and prepare for school the next. They began talking on the way down though.

"So, just to ask what should I call you? Should I call you Niijima-San or would you prefer being called something else?" Niijima seemed surprised to hear that and jumped slightly.

"Well, Niijima-San is what people call my sister so it doesn't really matter to me. You can call me Makoto if you'd like, what would you like to be called?" Amaya let out a dry chuckle and replied rather fast.

"I'm fine if you just call me Amaya. However, I really hate the nickname my sister gave me so I would rather like it for you to not call me that." Makoto started giggling at that and Amaya hoped she didn't remember the nickname in question but decided it would be for the best to not bring it up. Amaya and Makoto finally got back to the lobby and they said goodbye to each other. Naoto, Yu, and Amaya and Teddie went out to lunch. Afterward, Yu and Teddie went off to do their own thing while Amaya and Naoto went home.

-Shibuya Shirogane Estate-

Naoto and Amaya returned to their new place after the luncheon with her friends and sat down in the living room watching Netflix. After a few episodes of various things, Naoto turned to Amaya.

"Hey Ami, how were things today? I know you didn't have the best time at the luncheon but I hope at least the school was okay." Amaya was a bit tired but was trying to lighten up to Naoto at least since she is the only family he has left.

"I actually enjoyed the luncheon even though I had barely anything I could contribute. I may not act like it but I like hearing conversations by friend groups even if I am not a part of it. The school is fine though, Makoto is nice and Teddie will at least make it so I have one person I know on the staff if I need to talk to somebody." Naoto seemed relieved to hear that. She still seemed a little remorseful though and looked back up at Amaya with a sad expression on her face.

"I apologize for what happened before. I know you aren't likely to forgive me yet but I would at least like to offer that if you need someone to talk to that my door is open." Amaya knew what she was talking about but still felt sore about it and didn't want to talk about it now.

"Simply the knowledge that that is available helps enough Nao. I am still getting over gramps death and I am still a little sore about what you mentioned, to be honest, but I will hopefully be able to get over it in time." Naoto seemed slightly relieved hearing that and it looked like a weight was removed off of her shoulders.

"That is fine Ami, I am not expecting you to forgive me yet but I would like to at least make up for it in some way. I owe you that much as your sister and current guardian." Amaya felt as time stopped around him for some reason and he heard a soft voice talk to him.

_Congratulations you have unlocked the power of the Justice Arcana. With the might of justice at your back, you can conquer obstacles in your path with greater ease._

Amaya was confused at this but decided not to reply to it. He also felt as 5 almost identical scenes occurred for him but about Temperance, Priestess, Hierophant, Star, and ...Devil. Today was indeed a strange day and Amaya was willing to sleep it off finally. Amaya went to bed and went to sleep and unknown to him there were 2 scenes going on, one within him and another from a force observing him.

-?-

A shadow figure was standing in a courtyard watching as 6 Tarot cards descended into the courtyard and flew into special portrait frames that decked the outside of the courtyard. This figure looked at the situation and laughed maniacally as each Tarot card shot some energy at the ceiling and the sound of cracking started after the collision.

"**How fitting, the beginning of this story can finally begin.**"

-Velvet Room-

_Hmm, another potential persona user has come to Tokyo. This is interesting since this didn't seem to be in the same connections as that of the inmate… I should watch this user more and see where this dangerous signature is coming from and whether I should interfere or not. We'll see how this unfolds and if this will lead to ruin or veer against it._

-End of Chapter-

**Wow, this took much longer than I expected but the redone chapter one has concluded. As you can see, I have completely changed the story and have hopefully made Amaya into a more understandable character. I would love to hear what people think and apologize if the next few chapters take a bit as this did. I am much more proud of these than the older chapters since it felt to me that they were lazier in comparison. I thank you all and hope to see you in the next one. I should give Amaya's new Arcana list as of this chapter though. There is one that is a mystery and I will not say but people can guess but I won't confirm or deny it until it happens.**

Justice-Rank 3 (Naoto)

Hierophant-Rank 1 (Yu)

Star-Rank 1 (Teddie)

Priestess-Rank 1 (Makoto)

Temperance-Rank 1 (Akechi)

Devil-Rank 1 (?)

I also have a picture for what I imagine Amaya to be which I hope will show up on but if not I can make it my Profile Pic. I will explain the parts of his design at a later point.


	2. First Day at School

Disclaimer:

I do not own the Persona Series, that belongs to Atlus and Sega, but Amaya Shirogane is my original character. This is a redo of the original chapters. I hope this will be different enough to stand up to the expectations that I have set for myself.

First Day at Shujin (Amaya POV)

6/22/XX

-Phantom Thieves Chat-

Makoto- "I just saw something very interesting."

Ann- "What was that Makoto?"

Makoto- "I just met someone who just looked in Akechi's eyes and ripped into him. It was a sight."

Ryuji- "Wait, someone stood up to Akechi and won?! That's awesome! Who was it?"

Makoto- "The new transfer student, Amaya Shirogane. He should be joining Ann and Akira's class tomorrow."

Ann- "Wait, Shirogane? Like the world-class detective Naoto Shirogane?"

Makoto- "Yes, Naoto Shirogane is his sister and current guardian, I was able to meet the two of them today. This might seem off-topic but I would like to ask a question."

Akira- "What is this question?"

Ryuji- "Yeah, if you don't know something I better hope Akira or Morgana can answer it."

Makoto- "What are the color eyes shadow selves have?"

Yusuke- "Yellowish-gold if memory serves me right. Shadow Madarame and Kaneshiro have that eye color and the shadows of people in Momentos also have it I believe, why do you ask?"

Makoto- "Something very strange happened when Amaya and Akechi were in the student council room. The first thing was when we came in Akechi was angry seeing him which is a given but Amaya spoke back in a just as angry and strangely condescending attitude I hadn't seen up to that point. When I turned to him to ask him and Akechi to stop I was taken aback because one of Amaya's eyes was golden. Akechi seemed to see it too and once Amaya did it turned blue again and Amaya seemed to go back to normal."

Akira- "...Interesting. Morgana thinks that Amaya might have his shadow more connected to him than other people do since the way you talked about it makes it seem like that was an intimidation action."

Ryuji- "!? What the Hell!?"

Ann- "Ryuji, what is it?"

Yusuke- "Yeah Ryuji, you usually don't interrupt something like that."

Ryuji- "I was thinking after Makoto sent her message and I wanted to check something. I opened the Nav and I got a hit on an Amaya Shirogane. He has a Palace!"

Makoto- "What!? He doesn't seem evil at all! He was nice to me and only went angry when Akechi went after him first! He even seemed like he was waiting for Akechi to do that!"

Akira- "Makoto, did he say anything strange when he had the golden color in his eyes? Morgana wants to check a theory."

Makoto- "Uh, the only thing he said that caught my attention that wasn't related to Akechi was he said something about a few years prior his sister wouldn't care if he was dead or not and that Akechi doesn't have the right to just assume other people had a better life than he did. Is that enough?"

Akira- "It should be, just a sec I'll move the phone so Morgana can read it."

Akira- "Morgana has a feeling Amaya has a different type of palace."

Ann- "What does that mean?"

Akira- "Morgana would rather explain it in person tomorrow. Rooftop at lunch?"

Makoto- "Sounds good to me."

Ann- "I'll be there."

Ryuji- "Yup no problems."

Yusuke- "Um, I assume you will call me when ready?"

Akira- "Yeah no need to worry Yusuke, I'll call you when we meet up."

Ann- "Oh wait, Akira."

Akira- "What is it?"

Ann- "Tomorrow is Amaya's first day right? Why don't we at least introduce ourselves to him?"

Akira- "That sounds fine by me, Makoto is there anything that we need to know about him just in case?"

Makoto- "Well, he was angry at Akechi but I assume he expected he would be, he is very mad at anyone other than his sister that calls him his nickname, and other than that he was perfectly fine to talk to but he is a little bit out there. I'd say halfway between artist Yusuke and regular Yusuke."

Yusuke- "I feel that I should be insulted right now."

Ann- "Don't worry Yusuke, it wasn't an insult. You are a nice person but one of your quirks makes many things go over your head, Makoto just used that as a way for the rest of us to understand."

Yusuke- "I will take your word for it I guess."

Akira- "Well, Morgana is telling me to go to bed so I assume you all should do the same. See you all tomorrow."

Everyone- "Goodnight."

6/23/XX

-Shujin Academy Classroom 2D-

It was about 20 minutes before homeroom and 10 or so minutes before most students got to school. Yet Amaya was already there and sitting in the lobby with his laptop on his lap with him vigorously typing away on it.

"Wow, you're here early Amaya-Kun."

Amaya jumped at the sound of the voice and turned around trying to locate the source of the voice until he saw Teddie behind the desk looking at him.

"Oh, good morning Teddie. I am early because I didn't want to be late on my first day. I was mostly early because I wanted to find the correct line to come here. That place is a maze in its own right." Teddie started chuckling at that.

"Right you are Amaya-Kun. When I first moved here I felt like I was going to go on every line in Tokyo before I found the one I was supposed to take. I believe you being here means you found the correct one."

"I ran into a fellow student who showed me which line came here." Teddie was interested in this.

"What did this student look like? I'm interested because very few students come to school this early. Usually, it is either for student council things or for like 10 students extracurriculars."

Amaya was surprised that Teddie knew so much about the school which was a stark contrast to the aloof and playful personality that he showed yesterday.

"Um, the student had pinkish-orange hair and she wore a pink sweatshirt." Teddie seemed to know who he was talking about immediately.

"Ah, Mrs. Haru. She does indeed come here early. I'm surprised you have met her this early, she is your neighbor after all." Amaya's eyes widened upon hearing that.

"Oh, that would explain why I ran into her in the elevator."

"Heh, yeah. You should go to the teachers' office and find Kawakami though so you can get ready for your first class."

"Thanks, Teddie-San."

"Of course Amaya-Kun. Anytime you need help feel free to talk to me."

"I will keep that in mind, thanks again." Teddie nods at this and Amaya feels as time seems to pause for a second and a voice speaks to him and says his bond with Teddie has gotten stronger.

(Star-Rank 2)

-Classroom 2D-

Amaya after looking for Kawakami was told she was at the classroom and went straight there to see her along with 2 other students in the room, a boy with glasses and 'styled' black hair and a girl with blond hair that was styled into 2 tails going wither side of her hair. Amaya walked up to Kawakami to know where he was to go.

"Ah, Amaya-Kun, you're here early." Amaya saw out of the corner of his eye that the other students in the room jumped at the sound of his name and looked at him. Amaya was curious about this but finding his seat was more important to him.

"Yeah, I didn't want to be late my first day and I wanted to find the correct line here. I gave myself a lot of time in case I missed the early one." Kawakami was visibly impressed by his thinking but didn't want that to be shown.

"Um, since you're here I might as well tell you where your seat is. Over there are your classmates; Akira Kurusu and Ann Takamaki. Your seat is behind Kurusu in the back of the room." Amaya nodded and went towards his new seat. He did hear the hushed whispers of his two classmates as he walked by.

"_Hey Akira, is this the guy?"_

"_I assume so. He definitely matches the description Makoto told us, we should introduce ourselves since there is still time before class."_

"_Good idea, be sure to hide Morgana very carefully though."_

Amaya wasn't really in the mood at the moment and decided to when he got his stuff situated to put his laptop on his desk and pulled out his trusty Bluetooth headphones. He activated their noise-canceling feature and turned on his music while he continued what he was doing earlier.

When homeroom began Amaya turned his music off and put his headphones away. Kawakami came back into the room carrying a book that Amaya assumed held the attendance report. She got to the podium-like-desk, put the book down and silenced the class.

"Attention class, before attendance today I would like to introduce our new student here today." Kawakami looked at him. "Amaya Shirogane, would you come up to the front of the room?"

The class was silent for a second before whispering and stares came from many of the classmates as Amaya stood up and walked to the area of the room Kawakami was standing.

"This is Amaya Shirogane, he will be with us for the rest of the year. Amaya-Kun, would you mind telling the class a bit about yourself?" This would prove to be a problem. Amaya needed to think of how to dispell this yet let him keep his privacy until he remembered what was said yesterday by Makoto.

"I am Amaya Shirogane, I am the little brother of Naoto Shirogane. I just moved here for while my sister is on the case she is currently assigned to, I hope I can get along with the people here." Amaya then bowed before Kawakami tapped his shoulder signaling he could return to his seat. While Amaya was walking to his desk he heard whispers coming from the class talking about him and he also heard some about Akechi. When Amaya was sitting down at his desk he heard a hushed meow in front of him and saw the tiny head of a cat in Kurusu's desk. Kurusu seemed to be petting it gently which it seemed to be enjoying. Amaya was happy to see this and decided to be quiet. Kawakami began attendance and Amaya only heard two names that peaked his attention, 'Akira Kurusu', 'Ann Takamaki', 'Mishima Yuki'. Amaya knew the first two to be the names of the two students in front of him but the third he wasn't sure why it peaked his attention.

After Kawakami's class, there was a 10-minute break and Amaya pulled out his laptop again and put his headphones back on to drown out the pointless noise of the class. While he was doing his thing though he saw Kurusu take his phone out and was messaging people, one of which Amaya recognized as the girl he met yesterday, Makoto Niijima. After the 10-minute break, Amaya heard a scuffle as another teacher walked in. He introduced himself to Amaya as Mr. Inui and that he teaches history. A little while into the class Inui asked Kurusu ahead of him who the woman on the Priestess tarot card is which he had correctly said was Pope Joan. Inui then turned to him to do a shadow question.

"Amaya-Kun, do you know what faith the Popes are responsible for?" Amaya, of course, knew the answer but was confused as to why he was being asked such a simple question in comparison despite him being from a line of detectives.

"Christianity, or to be more exact the Catholic branch of that faith." Inui's eyes lit up, obviously impressed with Amaya's explanation.

"That is correct. Well done, yes, the Pope despite being a figurehead for Christianity as a whole is only truly in charge of the Catholic branch though originally that was the only branch." Amaya now understood why and despite how he already knew this was happy to have gotten the question the way Inui wanted and felt a bit more pride from it.

At lunchtime Amaya didn't know what he was going to do, he had not brought anything with him and he didn't have any money to buy food since he didn't bring his wallet. Amaya was resigned to just sit there and go back onto his laptop and get something in Shibuya after school when Kurusu got out of his seat and turned around to Amaya. Amaya was a little nervous since he didn't do very well at connecting with people and the only people he had really talked to here was because he felt like he was forced to, except Makoto who he was a little nicer to for being nice to him in return.

"Hello, Amaya-San. My name is Akira Kurusu, I am a friend of Makoto's. I was wondering if you would like to spend lunch with us to learn the school better." Amaya didn't know why but he felt that this was even a forced action on Kurusu's part but figured getting acquainted with a few people at the school couldn't be too bad.

"Sure Kurusu-San, Thanks for inviting me. Where are you meeting up?" Kurusu seemed a little surprised that Amaya accepted but regained his composure rather quickly.

"We usually meet up on the roof but we forgot it was raining, we are going to be meeting up in the student council room. Would you like to go up with us?" Amaya knew where it was but figured it wouldn't hurt to at least meet new people and see whether it would be nice or not to have some acquaintances.

"Sure, I don't have anything else to do anyway."

When they got to the student council room they saw Makoto as they walked in and she seemed shocked to see Amaya there. Amaya noticed this but didn't really speak up but Makoto did instead.

"Hello Amaya, I'm surprised to see you here and not at lunch." Amaya was about to say something when Kurusu spoke up instead.

"I invited him. After all, it is his first day and Student Council Protection doesn't really help the cafeteria." Makoto seemed to understand that and nodded before turning back to him.

"Do you have anything to eat? I can lend you a pass for food from the stand if you'd like." Amaya may have been hungry but he really didn't like people giving him things out of what he considered pity.

"No thanks, Makoto. I don't usually eat at this time anyway. I was going to go with Naoto to a restaurant in Shibuya tonight." He lied that last part thinking they wouldn't be able to disprove it which he was lucky they didn't.

After a moment a boy with spikey blond hair walked into the room and hi-fived Kurusu before turning to him.

"Hello, you must be Amaya, nice to meet you. My name is Ryuji Sakamoto." Amaya was happy to be talking with someone who didn't really care about honorifics. This meant he didn't have to either when talking to them.

"Nice to meet you Ryuji." Amaya then turned to Kurusu, "You sure have a good group of friends here don't you?" Kurusu seemed happy to hear that and put his hand behind his head bashfully.

Amaya felt strange as he felt as 3 new visions appeared before him saying he had unlocked the power of the Fool, Lovers, and Chariot, whatever that meant.

After about 15 minutes of talking, Ryuji got up and asked Amaya if he would like Ryuji to show him where the student cafe was. Amaya accepted and they left but not before talking again with Kurusu.

-Akira Point of View-

Akira had been surprised that Amaya had agreed to go with them to the student council room and was impressed to see how composed he was which put Akira's own to shame. Akira was wondering what it would be like to see that golden glow in his eyes but he knew he would have to wait. Ryuji had texted him if Akira would like him to bring Amaya to the cafe to let them speak about Amaya's potential palace which Akira asked him to and Ryuji just said to have Akira pay him back and to recap him later. Ryuji stood up and turned to Amaya.

"Hey Amaya, would you like me to show you where the student cafe is? If you need it I can pay for something today, since it's your first day it's my treat." Ann and Makoto seemed surprised by Ryuji's seemingly random offer but Amaya seemed taken aback but a little happy to hear that.

"Sure Ryuji, lead the way." Amaya got up but Akira wanted to ask a final question to him.

"Amaya-San one last thing, would you mind trading contact info with us? We wouldn't mind hanging out with you more often." Amaya broke a smile at that which he immediately stopped but when he spoke Akira could still hear the happiness in his voice.

"Oh, sure. By the way, you don't need to do the honorifics with me. None of you do, trust me 16 years on the Shirogane Estate will make you feel like you might as well be called inmate. That is how sheltered it is and why I am happy that people like Ryuji are around who speak freely to me."

-Metanav Activates-

_Location Found_

"Wait, what was that?" Akira and the other Phantom Thieves knew what it meant but they couldn't let their confusion as to why the Metanav activated now but Makoto tried her best to dispel the confusion.

"Oh, sorry Amaya. I was looking something up and I didn't notice my volume was up." Amaya obviously had a skeptical look to that but it was obvious it didn't matter at the moment.

"Well, I don't know about all of you but I am hungry so why don't we exchange contact info?"

Akira felt a little bit of respect and thankfulness from Amaya and felt as time froze and an Arcana card appeared.

_I am thou, thou art I._

_Thou hast acquired a new vow._

_It shall become the wings of rebellion_

_that breaketh thy chains of captivity._

_With the birth of the Tower Persona,_

_I have obtained the winds of blessing that_

_shall lead to freedom and new power._

Akira felt power enter him as he felt the new power of the Tower. After that was done and the contact info was exchanged Amaya and Ryuji left the room and Akira, Ann, Makoto, and Morgana who was finally allowed out of the bag were ready to talk about the new info they got from the Metanav.

"Makoto, I assume that it was your phone that gave the Metanav connection?"

"Yeah, it was. The good news is now we found Amaya's location. We now just need to find out what his keyword is."

"Um, about that." Morgana jumped onto the table. "I believe I know what his palace is but I don't think we should target it." Everyone else was confused but interested in what Morgana had to say.

"What do you mean Morgana?" Ann asked.

"Well Lady Ann, Palaces, like we have seen previously like Kamoshida's, Madarame's, and Kaneshiro's all, have their mindset based around something that corrupted their mind becoming the evil nature the person has. What do you think would happen for someone who has a very negative view of themselves or has a label placed on them that takes over or destroys their life?"

"You mean like how someone else would have reacted if a label like mine was worse?"

"Exactly. Sorry if I reminded you of your situation Akira." Akira gave a small smile at Morgana.

"No, don't worry, continue." Morgana hesitated but knew there was no point holding anything else back and continued even though he didn't think it was the best idea with Akira like this.

"...Yeah, as I was saying, what would happen for people with a strong enough case of self-hatred or something like PTSD?" Everyone was taken aback by that because it made sense. Anyone could have something like that because it was a prevalent thing in all of their lives.

"So, you believe Amaya has something like that? Something stuck in his head he is trying to forget or change?" Morgana shook his head.

"I believe Amaya is a special case even in that regard. I believe Amaya's is bad enough to be its own palace and not a bud-like in Mementos because there are a few distortions that keep replaying in his mind, I assume his own Shadow is one of them." Makoto's eyes widened.

"He told Akechi that a few years ago his sister wouldn't have cared if he was alive or dead! He also said that other people have miserable lives. Does that mean that if we were to find the root of the cause of these problems in Amaya's heart we could help him?" Morgana looked up happy and nodded.

"Yes, that is correct, similar to the Palaces we have visited thus far, Palaces like this should still have a treasure but this would be the thing that they believe was the catalyst for their troubles." Makoto was very happy to hear that.

"Then after Kaneshiro shouldn't we help him?" To this Morgana looked apprehensive.

"I'm not sure if that is the best idea. Amaya seems to have made peace with his distortion and lives with it. I assume that the instance Makoto saw what she thought was his shadow speaking, he was harnessing it and using it for his own safety. I also feel that we all don't know him that well and he is related to a detective which could lead him into discovering us." Everyone looked down in an understanding way.

"So," Ann said and everyone else looked up at her, "Getting rid of the coping mechanism won't help and dealing with his treasure would harm him. Should we try to be his friends but not deal with the palace?"

"That should work." Morgana said, "Being his friend could potentially help him with his own distortion without potentially bringing danger to ourselves, in that case, I approve."

"Are we all in agreement?" Akira asked. Everyone present raised their hand. "Excellent now we just need Ryuji and Yusuke's thoughts on this."

As they were talking they didn't know but someone was listening to this entire conversation through Akira's phone, a hacker was honing in on what was said.

-Yongen-Jaya-

"Hmm, a Palace can be for people that have undergone trauma if it was bad enough, they don't necessarily have to be evil? That's good to know, maybe I have one after all. Amaya Shirogane, hmm, I assume you're location was the Shirogane Estate judging by when the special app activated but what meaning confinement would lead you to wear that rough shield around you at all times? It must have been miserable."

The orange-haired girl leaned back in her chair looking up at the ceiling, sighing. She then turned back to the computer and went onto her computer again typing away at the security of another website.

-?-

The shadowy figure looked up again to see 3 more Tarot cards floating down and doing the same thing the ones from yesterday did. The ceiling above the courtyard was starting to crack and within the cracks of the parts that slowly faded away the red sky was visible. The Shadowy figure walked out of the shade to get a better look at the holes. An almost identical copy of Amaya was what stepped out of the shadows. The main key differences being the golden eyes, the glowing scar, and the dark ensemble he wore.

"**Well done. 3 more have begun, your true self is finally starting to seep through the cracks, I wonder whether I should help in that fashion.**"

Shadow Amaya then fired a black bolt of darkness in the shape of lightning at the Devil Arcana.

(Devil-Rank 2)

"**Every little bit helps. It will soon be a way to bring this place down and let this part of the world to be filled with light once again.**"

-End of Chapter-

**There we go, another chapter down, this already had a little bit of the template done from the previous chapter 2 but this one shows a lot more and contains a bit more substance than the original did. I hope you all enjoyed, the next one will likely be done in a similar fashion but I am truly working my hardest to make these seem good. I would love to hear your thoughts on this if possible but if you can't I understand. A very important thing to mention though is I have deliberately changed the Arcana. Akira has Amaya as the Tower among others. That doesn't mean I've gotten rid of characters like Shinya but let's just say he is still A Tower. I have made a small list for the list comparisons including the other important characters to the story but I will show that at a later date. I also got rid of the old chapters but more for renovation than getting rid of everything in them entirely, there are a few things I am going to my best to keep intact but other things might not be so lucky. Thank you for reading, I hope you all have a good time.**


	3. Bonds Forming

From the Ashes

Chapter 3

Bonds Forming

Disclaimer: I should have put this on the summery and I will but I don't own any of the characters from Persona, the rights go to Atlus and Sega, but Amaya is my character. I'm putting this on every future chapter sorry.

(Amaya pov)

6/23/XX

Akihabara (Tokyo)

Amaya found himself jumping on the wrong train when trying to go to Meiji Shrine and found himself in Akihabara. Amaya had known about this place but hadn't intended to go there this early but since he was there why not. Amaya walked around the Akihabara station until he read the sign pointing to the Shibuya line. Now that Amaya knew the way home he was alright. He walked out of the station to explore the area. After a moment Amaya's eyes drifted onto an arcade. Thinking that it would be interesting he walked inside. Once inside Amaya saw a line of pods for the game Gun About. Amaya remembered that he hadn't brought his wallet so he wasn't going to be able to play any games but walked up to the display and picked up the gun and checked it out. The gun was a 1-2 handed pistol depending if you wanted the silencer on or not. Amaya removed the silencer and gave the gun a spin to do its weight judge before setting it back in the holster. Amaya was about to walk away when a younger kid with a tee shirt and flip back hat walked up to him.

"Yo, you going to do some Gun About?"

"I was thinking about it but I doubt I'd be any good and not to mention I'm broke so I couldn't buy a game right now anyway." The kid shook his head.

"I understand being out of money but I think you would be good if not great at the game." Amaya was surprised to hear that.

"What makes you say that?" The kid grinned proudly and put a hand on the brim of his hat in a prideful manner.

"Shinya Oda at your service. I am also called the King of Gun About. May I ask your name?"

"I am Amaya Shirogane, nice to meet you."

As Amaya aims his hand out to Shinya he notices Shinya give him a strange look before accepting the handshake. Amaya then feels as time seems to stop around him and he hears a dark voice in his head.

**I am thou, thou art I.**

**Thou hast learned the power of trust**

**it shall become the key to freedom**

**and end the sadness in your heart.**

**With the power of the Tower Arcana**

**thou hast gained the ability to give strength to others.**

**May you get strength in unity.**

Amaya then sees a small card appear in front of him it then dissipates into light that goes inside of him. Amaya feels a little invigored by this but decides not to question it and to accept it as is. A moment after the card enters him time abruptly began again and Amaya and Shinya ended the handshake.

"Hey Amaya, if you would like I can give you money for a game and we could tag team so I can show you the ropes." Amaya smiled openly.

"I would feel honored to be taught by the King so why not?" Shinya smirked happily and he hands Amaya a gun and takes the other after putting some money in.

The game begins and Shinya takes the lead, he eliminates enemies in groups but keeps his eye on Amaya who was going a very impressive job of being a gunslinger. He was one handing the gun which meant each shot alerted others but any enemy the came within his sight from a distance had a bullet shooting towards their head soon thereafter. Shinya knew he was right about Amaya's skill and began to enjoy himself that much more.

After the game was done Shinya turned to Amaya with a huge grin on his face and raised his hand up. Amaya did the same and they hi-fived in a show of friendship.

"That was great Amaya! Would you like to do another game?" Amaya frowned and shook his head.

"I apologize Shinya but I need to get to my line back to Shibuya. My sister will likely be asking where I am anyway." Shinya frowned obviously sad to hear that but then perked back up like a lightbulb just went off in his head.

"Oh! Why don't we exchange contact info so we can do this again?" Amaya smirked at this.

"Of course. How about we set up a time every week or so to meet up?"

"Sounds great to me. I can't wait to see you again."

"Likewise Shinya. Talk to you later."

Amaya then felt as there was another flash and something in his head told him that his Tower arcana has gone to rank 2. Amaya now assumed that these magic pseudo hallucinations were of his relationships with other people and the highest one gets the closer he gets to that person. Amaya did like the idea of that and hoped he could get people he can truly trust once again.

-Shibuya Central Street-

Amaya got back home only to see Akira standing almost in a trance in an alley on Central Street. Knowing how dangerous people can be to the defenseless, Amaya walked up to Akira and patted on his shoulder.

"Psst, hey, you ok?" There was no response and Akira was in what seemed to be a trance. Amaya noticed the cat from earlier in his bag looking at him apprehensively and Amaya could see it wasn't an ordinary cat just by its expression. Amaya reached a hand to it and gently rubbed its head before walking toward the shop and hiding behind a crate. The cat looked at him questionably before they both heard 2 guys go down the alleyway.

"Hey bro, look. A guy just brained out."

"Lets rob em'."

Amaya braced himself, removed his bag leaving it at the crate and waited just inside the corner. Amaya out of the corner of his eye saw one of the guys brandish a knife while the other pulled out what seemed to be a gun. Whether they were model or not Amaya didn't care because he wasn't going to let one of his friends get hurt. The one holding the knife was closer to him so he had an idea. When they got within 2 feet of Amaya he readied himself and the jumped out from behind the corner swiping the knife from the guy's hand and doing a spin to kick the guy in the face. The other guy was still stunned so Amaya used the chance to use the knife and slice at the other guy's hand that was holding the gun and when they moved their hand back the knife hit the gun and was dropped to the ground. Amaya put his foot on the gun before doing a back swipe with it and it ended up hitting the alleyway wall. Amaya then pointed the knife at the guys with a completely savage look on his face.

"I'm giving you this one chance to leave. I won't give you another at least in one peace."

The tone was bone-chilling in its own right but Amaya hazarded a guess that there was another reason they were cowering. They turned back and ran but not before Amaya was able to notice their outfits. They looked like stereotypical punks but with yellow hair and one of them had an insignia on the back of his leather jacket with the name Kaneshiro above an image of a pig. Amaya turned back to where Akira was to see him actually moving like he was coming out of the trance and the cat was looking at him with what almost seemed to be a jaw-dropped expression on its face. Akira turned around and when he made eye contact with Amaya got the same expression the cat had.

"Uh, Amaya? What are you doing here? And uh, what's with the knife?" Amaya felt like that same force that appeared when he first talked to Akechi started to dissipate now that the fight was over and he walked over to the gun and picked it up.

"You're welcome. If it wasn't for me, while you were daydreaming you almost got jumped." Akira's eyes widened considerably after hearing that.

"Oh! Thanks. Uh, it feels odd to have needed help since most people just leave me alone. But I'm not sure you answered my question." Amaya chuckled a bit to that.

"Akira, I live here in Shibuya, I was just heading toward my place when I saw you here and wanted to make sure you were alright." Akira was surprised to hear that seemingly.

"Oh, then, in that case, I owe you one."

"In that case, I would like to immediately cash it." Akira's eyebrows raised like he was contemplating something.

"What would you like?"

"I would just like to ask you a question and for you to answer it truthfully." Akira seemed even more confused as this to be the payback for debt like this.

"Ok, sure. What is this question?" Amaya smirked since he now had his way and Akira seemed to regret agreeing to it now.

"What is that cat and where did you find it?" Akira upon hearing this seemed to get pale which made Amaya suspect he just hit what he was looking for.

"U-Uh, w-what do you mean? He's just a service cat. I got him for good behavior from my record." Amaya looked down and his smirk widened and Akira seemed a bit nervous now.

"Pretty damn intelligent for a service animal. Not to mention it can obviously understand situations and can even make human-like expressions. That is no cat, a normal cat anyway."

(Akira POV)

Shit, Amaya had him in a corner in 2 ways, Akira couldn't run away since he would have to inevitably see Amaya tomorrow and that could be taken as a confirmation to Amaya that this wasn't normal which could lead him to figure out that they are the Phantom Thieves. Akira heard Morgana whisper to him though.

"He has us good, I didn't know he was that good at reading expressions and his fighting prowess was great when his shadow was there. I fear that we may have to show him the Metaverse." Akira's fear suddenly went up again. If they brought Amaya there then there would be no way that they could avoid it. On the other hand, Amaya would figure it out anyway if he wasn't to answer. If push came to shove of course if they were to go to Momentos Akira could get Amaya to be quiet about it if it was a secret. It was a long shot but they had no other real option Akira or Morgana could see. Akira turned to Amaya who seemed to be awaiting his real answer.

"Amaya, I can show you where I got him but we are going to have to go to Shibuya Station. Are you okay with that?"

"As long as you don't run away."

-Kaneshiro's Bank-

(? Perspective)

The Black Mask walked onto the flying bank to speak with Kaneshiro's Shadow. The man was asked by the Leader to check in on the Black Diamond's connections palaces since they had lost a significant amount of income when Madarame had a change of heart and they lost power when Kamoshida did a few months prior. The Black Mask was surprised to see the front door to the Bank was broken which meant something had happened here. He walked into the hole in the door to see a Shadow run up to him.

"**Hello Sir, welcome back to the Bank. Do you wish to meet with my Master?**"

"Yes, that is what I am here for. I want a debrief about what happened here so I can do my report."

"**Right away Sir, Master Kaneshiro will be here in a moment.**" The Shadow then ran off toward the elevator. The Black Mask sat down in one of the waiting booths and mentally accessed the damage. He saw there had been a battle here, there were cracks in the concrete flooring that looked like they were caused by someone gaining strength and breaking the floor beneath them. He also saw charring around the other booths near the cracking which seemed to him to be the signs of a Persona awakening. He remembered his own but faintly since it had been 2 years prior. The Black Mask was about to write the damage off as someone accidentally ending up here and awakening until he saw other bits of damage. There was the wood burns of Nuclear magic but also the regular warping Fire magic causes, he also saw what seemed to be the remnants of Lighting and Ice attacks. The Black Mask squinted and could even make out the small outlines of black puddles that almost seem to be from Curse Magic. A group had been here and very recently like within the past 2 days or so. The Black Mask was thinking about what to do when after what felt like forever, Shadow Kaneshiro showed up.

"**I'm sorry for the wait Sir, I was at the vault but I got up here as fast as I could.**"

"I assume that the Phantom Thieves were here?" The Black Mask gestured to the leftover carnage from the recent battle and Kaneshiro nodded.

"**I had them on the ropes since they couldn't deal with my constant summoning of the Mercenaries but then the girl they brought along became like them, busted through the door and all of them escaped.**"

"Wait, they had a girl with them? Do you know who it was?" Kaneshiro's eyes lit up as an almost demonic smile appeared on his face.

"**Why, yes I do. They brought her along since she was now considered a customer of the bank so they could get up here, I don't know who the other thieves are but I can name the new girl. Her name is Makoto Niijima.**" The Black Mask's train of thought derailed by those 2 words. Makoto Niijima, he knew her, how was she a member of the Phantom Thieves. This was going to be interesting for him now so he won't tell the boss this part when he leaves. He turned to Kaneshiro.

"Great job. That is all I needed to hear, I suggest you get back to your defense system and I'll work on the information you gave me." Shadow Kaneshiro seemed happy.

"**Anytime Sir, thank you for your time.**" He waled away and The Black Mask walked outside and left the Metaverse.

-Shibuya Central Street-

When he left Kaneshiro's Palace, Goro Akechi walked to the alleyway near the gym and pulled out his phone and called the person he hated the most in the world, his boss and Father, Masayoshi Shido.

"Yes?"

"Hello, Sir, I just left Kaneshiro's Palace, and I have news."

"Excellent. What did you get?"

"When I got there I saw that the front door was broken and there was carnage in the waiting room area. It looked like a fierce battle happened here and from the looks of it, even a Persona Awakening."

"You have gone on about those for a while but this is one of those points I have to simply believe you on. The fact there were remnants of one of these awakenings does that mean that the Phantom Thieves brought a new member with them?"

"I assume so. There were remnants of other types of magic too which seems to be the Phantom Thieves were there and Kanehsiro even confirmed it himself so I told him to buff out security and I was going to monitor his palace for a while to see if I can find out anything about the Phantom Thieves."

"Good, then that is fine by me. I better get some results next I hear from you. I have to go since I have a meeting with the Viper."

"Understood Sir, Goodbye."

Ugh, the Viper, Eiji Iora, the Director of the SIU. Akechi would say that if Shido was number one on the people he hated, Iora would easily make number two. The guy was cocky and kissass to Shido. He tried to boss him around even though he doesn't have the authority and even gives him the stupid interviews he hates even though Iora knows they don't do anything except make life more difficult for him. Akechi hoped that one of these days if Shido had Akechi do a mental shutdown on Iora he wouldn't falter and would do it in a day for fun. Akechi would use his free time the rest of the day and work out at the gym since he was here but he would start looking into Makoto tomorrow at school. Akechi wondered why Makoto would be helping the Phantom Thieves if her sister was against them but Akechi didn't know either one of them enough to know the full story. Tomorrow would be quite a day.

-Shibuya Station-

(Amaya POV)

Amaya followed Akira into Shibuya Station and they went to a hidden corner where they couldn't be seen. Amaya turned the corner and saw Akira on his phone and Amaya saw a red and black eyeball encompass the whole screen and Amaya felt a nauseating headache happen for a moment as the area around his started shifting.

_You have entered Mementos_

That voice again, it had gone off during the conversation he had had with the others this morning, interesting. Amaya turned and saw Akira in what could only be described in his eyes as a badass outfit. He also saw what he assumed to be the cat, with a bandanna and a head about the size as its body.

"Well," the cat said, "You don't seem too surprised looking at us."

"That's cause I'm not. I expected as much earlier when that strange app happened before and Makoto gave that sloppy explanation trying to cover it up. Ryuji wasn't doing too good of a job hiding the fact he was stalling me though."

"Well, you are related to a long line of great detectives and I noticed when you were getting suspicious I just didn't expect to have to do this the first day we met you."

"I'm surprised though, on my first day at school I found out the identity of the Phantom Thieves without additional aid or information. All I needed was you inviting me to hand out with you. I feel that I would be claimed to be just like my sister if I was to tell her about it."

"Please don't! I don't want to go back to jail yet!" Akira said that with very apparent fear in his voice.

"Tsk, who do you take me for, Akechi? Of course, I won't expose you guys. You are the first people my age that actually treat me like a person and not just that one guy related to famous people."

"Sigh, oh thank goodness." The cat said. "I was originally suspicious of you since it looked like you were figuring us out but you really are a good guy."

Amaya felt as his eyesight flashed yellow and it felt like something else was speaking for him.

"**What do you think?**" Akira and the cat's eyes widened and they took a step back. Amaya slapped himself in the face and the force vanished as quickly as it appeared but that still hurt.

"Ow..." The cat walked up.

"You shouldn't hold yourself back like that, it isn't good for you. The way that looks, it seems like you don't like that happening."

"That is right. I don't like it because that force to me when it shows up like that has only brought me pain. It first appeared when my parents died. After they died my family basically treated me like I deserved to die in my parent's place. That was 7 years ago." Akira and the Cat's eyes widened considerably after hearing that.

"That's horrible." Akira said, "It kind of reminds me of what happened to me. When I was given my false assault charge, everyone around me exept my parents who are divorced treated me like dirt without hearing my side of the story or anything. Some of the people who have known me for years just treated me like I didn't exist so that pain I can connect with you on."

Amaya looked up at Akira in the eyes and nodded. Amaya then felt as time seemed to stop like what happened with Shinya.

**I am thou, thou art I.**

**Thou hast learned the power of trust**

**it shall become the key to freedom**

**and end the sadness in your heart.**

**With the power of the Fool Arcana**

**thou hast gained the ability to give strength to others.**

**May you get strength in unity.**

Another card appeared before him and just like what happened before it dissipated and entered him. He was a little confused though, the one with Shinya had been rank one when this happened but this one was rank two. Did it happen to mean he had do connect directly with someone? Amaya hoped if that was the case the others could be like this, a cathartic experience for him every now and then. As the time stop dissipated Amaya turned to the cat.

"I don't believe I got your name."

"I am Morgana, the guide and Shadow Analyzer of the Phantom Thieves."

"Don't forget Car." Akira piped in.

"That too." Morgana shrugged.

"Shadow Analyzer?"

"Oh, we should explain things to you since we're here and you are already keeping the secret. It will be a bit of a long story though."

"I don't really have anywhere I need to be relatively soon so go ahead."

After Akira and Morgana gave an overview of Shadows and Palaces as well as the Palaces of Kamoshida and Madarame and what they did Amaya couldn't help but be blown away by how much they did in such stressful conditions. They also mentioned their current issue with a "Junya Kaneshiro" they were going to deal with and Amaya was once again impressed with how devoted they are to this. He was surprised Makoto had basically been framed and that was why they had to take down Kaneshiro. Amaya also had a suspicion from how the Metanav reacted earlier that day and the constant flashes of unusual behavior.

"Uh, just a question. Do I have a Palace?" Morgana looked down solemnly.

"Yes you do but I believe it is a Palace surrounding a traumatic moment in your life or something like that that your subconscious tries to hide. We have agreed to not target you though unless we have your permission."

"In that case, I give you all permission. If what you have said is true and Palaces are like that, mine would be something that needs to go. I fear my Palace to be so hidden from me that I wouldn't even remember what is being held in there."

"Do you have a guess as to what it could be? We have 2 of your keywords with the location being the Shirogane Estate but all we would need is the distortion to get in hopefully."

"...The Estate to me is the place I felt confined in for what felt like forever. I thought there was no need to go out and kept myself isolated away from everyone. I don't think it would be something like a prison but more like something, someone would intentionally put themselves in. I don't know any specific examples."

"Well, that is good but are you sure you would trust us with something that personal?" Amaya turned to Morgana.

"Morgana, despite you being in the form of a cat, you have done more than I've done my whole life. If you and the other Phantom Thieves are just as devoted to help others than I don't know of anyone else I would trust this too." Morgana looked up at him with an awed but happy expression on his face.

"Then, in that case, we would be honored to help you. We have to deal with Kaneshiro first though."

"Yeah, of course. Do it at anytime. I feel that this shouldn't be something that needs that much attention right now."

Amaya felt as his connection with Morgana seemed to take hold and another freeze of time occurred.

**I am thou, thou art I.**

**Thou hast learned the power of trust**

**it shall become the key to freedom**

**and end the sadness in your heart.**

**With the power of the Magician Arcana**

**thou hast gained the ability to give strength to others.**

**May you get strength in unity.**

Once again a Tarot card appeared before him, dissipated and entered him. This time though he felt like something was breaking inside of him but it ended abruptly so Amaya didn't pay it much mind. As the time stop ended Amaya turned to the two Phantom Thieves in front of him.

"Well, I don't know about you but today has been a long day. Why don't we leave and I'll see you at school tomorrow?"

"Sounds good." Akira pulled his phone and pressed a button.

_You are now leaving Mementos._

After the nausea from the Metanav subsided Amaya said goodbye to Akira and Morgana who he could now understand and went home. Amaya was very tired and was about to go to bed when he plugged in his phone and saw a new app on his home screen. It was an eyeball with a red and black color scheme. Amaya knew this was the Metanav, maybe he could help the others out and find his own Palace's distortion? He would think about this tomorrow as Amaya lay down on his bed and went to sleep.

-End of Chapter-

**There we go. Another one down, this is going very far off of the initial story but I believe this is a good thing. I decided to show Amaya's first few connections and his first actual support conversations with Shinya, Akira, and Morgana. It is around 11:30 P.M where I am when I'm finishing this but I'm on break so I hope that I can get a few more done before I have to go back to my busy schedule. There are other things I would like to explain about the chapter but I believe those to be better said when I can give more background. Once again, I hope you enjoyed and I really wouldn't mind if you let me know what you think in the comments. Talk to you all again next time.**


	4. Horus

Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I should have put this on the summery and I will but I don't own any of the characters from Persona, the rights go to Atlus and Sega, but Amaya is my character. I'm putting this on every future chapter sorry.

Horus

6/24/XX

(Amaya POV)

-Shujin Academy Gate-

Amaya had just left the school as the final bell rang and he had a plan in mind he was hoping for. He was thinking originally of going to the Meiji Shrine again in the hopes of praying for his parents and Grandfather but decided to do that tomorrow as the red eyeball on his phone's home screen seemed to show more relevance. Amaya wanted to get a personal investigation done since Akira had shown him the Metaverse yesterday. He had told him that model guns work as real guns which gave Amaya an idea. Amaya got on the train heading for Shibuya, not noticing that Akira and the others had also gotten on the same train.

-Shibuya Central Street-

Amaya went back to the alleyway he had previously saved Akira in and went into the Untouchable store and saw the owner, a man likely in his 30s with a Gekko tattoo on his neck, and very thuggy or Yakuza like clothing. If it wasn't for the fact that Akira had told him about this Iwai that Amaya wouldn't feel safe coming in here. Iwai looked down from his newspaper looking at Amaya with a look of obvious suspicion.

"What do you want?" Amaya suspected as much from a guy who Akira said was formally in the Yakuza but wanted to at least quell the pressure around both of them.

"Don't worry, I'm a friend of Akira's. He told me about this place and mentioned that you sell very good looking model guns." Iwai seemed to become a little more at ease but still suspected Amaya a little bit.

"I do, you looking for anything in particular?" Amaya nodded.

"Do you have any hand cannons?" This question piqued Iwai's interest.

"You mean like desert eagles?" Amaya nodded.

Iwai walked down the display case and pulled out a very good looking desert eagle and brought it to where he was and showed it to Amaya.

"Was this what you were looking for?"

"Yes, it was. How much is it?"

"It is 15,000 Yen normally since it's the only one I have in my stock but since you know Kurusu, I'll give you a little bit of a discount. How does 10,000 sound?"

"Sounds like a deal to me." Amaya pulled out his wallet and pulled out 10,000 Yen and handed it to Iwai.

Iwai then put the Desert Eagle into the bag along with a small black cylinder he slipped in there and handed Amaya the bag. He then leaned forward and looked Amaya in the eye with a serious look.

"Look, kid, you should at least know, any friend of the kids is a friend of mine but I have a little warning for ya'. Don't go out alone without something like that Eagle, I know who you are because you are a prime target for other groups."

"How so? They couldn't get anything out of me or get me to do things like the drug trade I've heard targets people my age." Iwai looked closer at him.

"That's not what I mean. YOU are a prime target. Your line is almost as hated as the Niijima line by some of the most dangerous groups around Tokyo and that scar doesn't hide you from your description." Amaya was taken aback by this greatly. He didn't know Iwai knew who he was but he wanted to know for an absolute certainty that Iwai knew who exactly he was to know whether or not to heed his warning.

"In that case, what name should I be on the lookout to avoid using in public?"

"Your name of Shirogane. The Amaya part you should also not use in public unless you intend on dying your hair and covering up that scar." So, Iwai DID know who he is. This would make things more difficult.

"Alright, your warning has been heeded. What should I do in case I notice something then?"

"I suggest you go to a crowded area and avoid areas like back alleys and shady stores and clubs. If you have the option since you're young, I'd say you should try getting high up more often then naught, fire escapes and ladders should help, and if needed to, contact law enforcement if they are nearby."

"I will do my best then. Thanks, Iwai-San, you have been a great help."

"Anytime kid. Oh hey, before you leave. If you are being tailed, feel free to come in here and you will have a haven. I hate many of the groups in Tokyo and they hate me, so I wouldn't feel bad eliminating a few of them when given the excuse." Amaya nodded thankfully.

"I may take you up on that. Once again thank you." Iwai then leaned closer to Amaya and whispered very quietly to him.

"In case you are being chased, feel free to use the package on the Eagle." Amaya was confused for a moment but decided to check out what Iwai meant later. Amaya then nodded to Iwai and walked out of Untouchable with his package. Neither Iwai or Amaya knew though that someone was watching and listening to the entire transaction except the part of Iwai whispering.

-Yongen Jaya-

The hacker had seen the entire interaction in Untouchable and was going over the entire scene in her head.

"Munuhisa Iwai, why did you give Amaya a REAL Desert Eagle and Silencer? You must be worried about his safety in Tokyo if you did."

The hacker leaned back in her chair looking at the information on the screen in front of her.

"There are four main factions of the Yakuza that are prevalent. The Gekko, the Oni, the Hand, and the Spirit. Which ones would want to target Amaya? The Gekko has no real beef with the Shirogane name that I know of, the Oni is mostly into the transfer and selling of illegal goods through the black market, the Hand is work for a particular politician now, so it has to be the Spirit."

The Hacker looked at the list of members she had gotten off of the private server used by the Spirit. She stops reading when she sees a particular name.

"The leader, Sho Minazuki… where have I seen that name before?"

-Kaneshiro's Palace-

(Akira POV)

After everyone appeared at Kaneshiro's Palace Akira felt for some reason that they were being watched from somewhere. Akira looked around to see if he could find a source of this feeling but couldn't pinpoint the location of the sensation so he just wrote it off as the feeling they get when in Momentos. Akira has Makoto, Yusuke, and Morgana go with him as the main battle group while Ann and Ryuji followed as the backup. As the Thieves got closer to Kaneshiro's Bank they noticed that the front door was blocked off, likely because of what happened last time so they would have to find another way into the Bank. Akira and the others split up to see if they could find a vent or open window or some unordinary way for them to sneak in. Akira was using his third eye hoping to find something and stopped in front of the massive gold piggy bank statue as he felt a strange thing about the statue. Akira reached up and pressed on the nose and all of a sudden the entire statue moved and exposed a hidden almost sewer drain that seemed to lead into the Bank. All of the Thieves made their way out of the hidden tunnel and found themselves in a hidden back room of the Bank. Akira and the others move forward slowly and Akira used his third eye to see the locations of moving shadows and was able to pinpoint their locations. After the active team was able to get through a few battles they noticed that they couldn't get onto the elevator and some of the other rooms weren't opening due to some kind of keycard lock. As they walked toward the stairs they notice as Morgana jumps back almost on instinct.

"Mona, what is it?" Makoto asked while Akira got to the top of the stairs and saw a strange Shadow.

"Is that a dog?" Morgana shook his head.

"No, that is a guard Shadow. These are a lot smarter than the normal shadows and have the potential to smell you if you are hiding close to them. They have more specific patterns in their movement so we need to be very careful when one is nearby. If anyone sees one, let everyone else know immediately." All of the active and inactive thieves nodded at that all understanding the danger these have.

Akira and the others were able to hide in the shadows of the hallway and when the dog came back Akira was able to ambush it. The shadow became a huge two-headed dog with what almost looked like scales on it's back and an almost snake-like tail.

-Chapter Intermission-

This is FatesAwakener here. I thought now would be as good of a time as any to give the details on Personas and changes that I have done in this story.

Akira/Joker- Joker has a different power in this, Arsene has a changed moveset to make him a useful main Persona and I plan on giving him a special feature that I will explain later. Joker's current set is Arsene LV 20, Matador LV 19, Eligor, LV 18, and Shiisaa LV 18. Like the others, I am still toying around with skills and will likely show those soon. Just know, I am showing this with a Royal mindset in mind. If someone has a recommendation or idea for a change in the movesets please let me know in a review. I am more likely to add skills or replace skills then take some away though. Joker is Level 21 now. Just barely over the others.

Skull- Captain Kidd is at Level 20.

Mona- Zorro is at Level 20

Panther- Carmen is at Level 20.

Fox- Goemon is at Level 20.

Queen- Johanna is at Level 20.

I will go more into this at a later point but I wanted to make light of this. Now let's get back to the Orthus Battle.

-Chapter Intermission Over-

Akira went first and summoned Arsene to do Sukunda in the hopes of weakening the beast a little. He then saw as Makoto was going next and saw her summon Johanna.

"Johanna! Frei!"

As the attack landed they saw as the beast seemed mostly unfazed as it seemed to resist Nuclear attacks. Morgana was next and he hit the beast with Garula. It took a bit of damage this time so they all knew wind worked against it. Yusuke went next and shot Bufu at the Shadow. When it hit, the monster collapsed and they knew they hit its weakness. They all rushed in for an all-out attack and the Shadow was almost finished. It turned towards Yusuke and shot a huge fire attack knocking him down. It then turned to Morgana and used an attack Akira recognized being Double Fang. Morgana was hurt but still up and Yusuke wasn't down that badly. Akira decided that this thing needed to be defeated now and switched Personas to Shiisaa and used a Double Fang attack of his own, and the Shadow was defeated. Akira turned to his team worried and asked Makoto to heal them. With the team back in action, they decided to continue and found a vent that led to the main security room. Akira wanted to find what else there is on the floor before coming here just in case the security guard here was able to call for back up.

-Mementos-

(Amaya POV)

Amaya reentered the place Akira had taken him to yesterday. This Momentos was the Palace of the General Public which the existence of piqued Amaya's interest greatly. There are only three areas that are accessible in this place as of right now due to the General Public not having the Phantom Thieves in such high regard after just exposing Kamoshida and Madarame. Amaya knew the dangers of this place and any Palace as Akira and Morgana had told him but Amaya wanted to check something while he was here. Amaya pulled out the Metanav and pulled up the Momentos Target Checker. He inputted a few names of people he knew to see if any of them had shadows here and luckily none of the ones he had put in reacted. Amaya was a little apprehensive to put one name in but once he did he was alerted by the nav saying that this person had a Shadow in Momentos and showed which floor it was on. Amaya was terrified to know that this person had a Shadow here but knew that he had do see this himself and went down into Mementos.

Amaya was very surprised that he was able to slip past all of the hulking monsters in the first level but was at least happy to know when he got to the escalator and headed down to the next floor that he was in a safe place. When he got to the bottom of the escalator and Amaya put his phone in his pocket he looked and saw that at the center of the platform was someone he feared to see. Standing in the middle of the platform, in the middle of a shadowy puddle was an almost identical version of his sister, Naoto Shirogane, watching the trains going by.

-Kaneshiro's Palace Control Room-

(Akira POV)

Akira and the others had gotten everything they could from what was available and had just defeated the Guard Shadow here and picked up the Card Key that it left behind. Just as they were about to leave the control room, Morgana stopped them.

"Hey, I don't want to bring anything weird up but, I sense something weird in Mementos right now." Akira was confused about that and wanted to know what Morgana meant.

"Something weird Mona? Would you be able to give a little more of a specific explanation?"

"...How do I describe it in a way Skull could understand?"

"WHAT WAS THAT!?" Morgana shrugged this outburst though.

"It feels like a warning. I feel that something is happening in Mementos that shouldn't be. I feel that there is a battle of very high proportions happening and I can't pinpoint where in Mementos it is happening or even who the combatants are but I assume that one of them is the Monster of Mementos." Everyone except Makoto was taken aback hearing that since they all knew what Morgana was referring too. Akira knew that something had to be done about this. They still had about 2 and a half weeks to deal with Kaneshiro and they just got the Keycard so they can easily continue later.

"I believe we need to go to Mementos then. We have over 2 weeks to deal with Kaneshiro and if this is as bad as Mona says then this should be our top priority for today. What does everyone else say?"

Everyone including a reluctant Makoto raised their hand in a unanimous decision and they all agreed and left Kaneshiro's Palace and headed off to Mementos.

-Mementos-

(Amaya POV)

Amaya approached his sister's Shadow apprehensively to try talking to her.

"Nao?" The Shadow was startled hearing his voice and turned to him.

"Ami? What are you doing here? You told me you were going to go to the Meiji Shrine."

"I'm sorry Nao but I felt coming here today was more important now. What are you doing here?" The Shadow looked away from him in a somber way.

"I'm here trying to make amends. I just don't know how to do that in a way I want it to."

"Nao, who are you trying to make amends with that would make you come here?"

"...You Ami." Amaya was confused hearing that and tried looking at his sister's shadow in the eye.

"U-Uh, what do you mean to make amends with me?"

"I feel that I am a terrible sister and could be a terrible guardian for you. Even overcoming my shortcomings and accepting myself years ago doesn't change what happened before and for that I'm sorry."

"Nao… you don't need to apologize for that, that was years ago. I know you were having just as big of a problem as I was so I forgive you for that."

"...You shouldn't. Even if I was having a big problem with what happened that doesn't exempt what I did and how much pain I and the rest of the family caused you. I know how bad it still is even if you don't see it yourself. I've seen your Shadow and how resentful it is of me. I don't deserve you to forgive me." Amaya looked at Naoto's Shadow with a look that looked like a mix of pain and pity. He felt bad for her but knew it would be better for bygones to be bygones.

"Naoto, I may not be over what has happened but I want what happened in the past to stay in the past. I know I have been difficult to talk with among other things but if you feel this bad about this I will do my best to help us become like the siblings we used to be." Amaya walked forward and hugged Shadow Naoto. "No matter what happens I will always be your brother so I still have the right to forgive you. I want you to know that and for the both of us to move on from this."

Shadow Naoto looked at him with huge tears in her eyes before returning the hug.

"T-Thanks Ami. Truly, you have become a much more mature man than you probably realize. I hope you keep your word though because I really wouldn't mind us truly acting like a family again."

Even Amaya was starting to get teary-eyed from this because he wanted that as well. He and Naoto being like a family again would make life a lot better for both of them. Amaya also knew that his Shadow and his Palace was what was stopping this from happening sooner. Amaya would have to thank Akira and Morgana next he saw them but for now, he wanted to make sure Naoto was able to know how he felt about this. Both of them pulled back from the hug both still tearing a bit but mostly out of happiness for what had already happened.

"Ami, ...thanks for being willing to forgive me. I can't wait for us to be like a family again. I'll be sure to take you to a nice dinner after this is all done with."

Shadow Naoto started shining and transformed. Where Naoto stood was a small figure with wings and a long sword. It took a look at Amaya and nodded before dissolving. Right after the strange thing disappeared something flew out of the ground, a small glowing orb. Amaya grabbed it and saw that it was the Detective Badge she wore as the original Detective Prince. To think that the title gave her her original problems and personality. All of a sudden though Amaya gripped his head as he heard a booming voice come from within him.

**Interesting. You might be quick to dismiss or say you accept people but doing so truly is another story for you isn't it Amaya?**

_Who the hell are you?_

**Who else but yourself? You just helped your sister get over her problems but you seem to not want to do so yourself.**

_If you really are me, you should know that my problems are for me to bear and no one else._

**Ooh, big words from the person who is too afraid to even try going into their own Palace. I bet you wouldn't have the guts to go in alone unless it was life or death for you otherwise.**

_I WILL deal with my Palace, once I know what it is…_

**Yeah right. If you cared enough about yourself as a person and not just your views on self-preservation then you would know what it has been this entire time. **

_...What do you mean?_

**I am your Shadow Amaya, your true self. I am the very manifestation of all of your insecurities and fears as well as the true personality of yours you have hidden under years of pain and suffering.**

_In that case, then shouldn't I know what you are trying to accomplish since you are a part of me?_

**Now that is a whole case of Irony. As I said before, if you cared enough about yourself or knew yourself as well as you seem to know or understand others than you would already know the Palace as well as what, or rather, WHO I am. I do have a reason for contacting you now though, I want to show you the power you will need to start this domino effect.**

Amaya felt almost as if a cage in his heart was forced open and he started feeling a sense of invigoration. After this wave occurred though there was a spiking pain in his head and he gripped his head and screamed in agony. He also heard as a new, much softer voice began to speak in his mind.

_So, you have finally realized the illusion you placed on yourself. Fitting that you still needed prompting to accept enough of this situation to try helping yourself. Let us forge a contract and begin the process that will seal our fate._

_I am thou, thou art I._

_Hiding from the world is just another form of cowardice people feel inclined to follow._

_It is time you end the Masquerade and see the world with your own eyes once again._

Amaya felt as something appeared on his face. It looked to be a mask but almost as quickly as it appeared a painful burning sensation started to happen from where the mask was making contact with his face. Amaya couldn't think fast enough to assess the situation so he just decided to just go with what it wanted to happen and he gripped the top of the mask with both hands and tore it off his face in a swift calculated motion with almost no hesitation to the tearing if his face that occurred alongside it. As the mask was removed Amaya felt the pain go away and felt a burst of energy be released from him which he felt had been waiting for this for a long time. Amaya looked up and saw as a figure appeared from the burst of energy he released, something he recognized as a part of himself. The figure who Amaya got the name Horus for in his head fit the description of the legendary Egyptian God quite well. It had a mostly humanoid torso and arms but had a falcons head, legs, talons, and wings. Horus wore a set of golden armor with a blue tunic covering the rest of the majestic creature. Horus also wielded two huge swords, one in each hand. After Horus appeared it looked right into Amaya's eyes and nodded before fading into a blue light that morphed into the mask that he ripped off his face which he could now see looked like 2 golden feathers put together in an arch shape. (^) Amaya then decided he had been in Mementos long enough and walked back to the escalator and ascended the next floor, only to see a huge one-eyed behemoth with chains and two enormous guns waiting for him. Amaya didn't know what this thing was but he did know that it wasn't friendly judging by the aura it released as well as the fact it was blocking the way out of the platform room. Amaya felt a familiar drive enter him, the same one he had when he saved Akira in the alleyway and readied himself to face this monstrosity. Amaya grabbed the Desert Eagle he got from Iwai from its holster and with his left hand reached up to his mask and tore it off summoning Horus once again. He aimed the barrel at the beast and yelled something he felt come to his mind at that moment.

"Horus, Megido!"

-End Chapter-

**Hey, I feel bad that I sort of left this chapter as a bit of a cliffhanger but I feel that I needed to get the next chapter done faster. Today is the last day of my break and I was determined to at least get 2 chapters done and I'm glad even with only a few hours left that I got something that felt right to me. There are still a few things I feel I need to explain in this chapter first.**

**Naoto's Shadow in Mementos is an interesting case and the reason it turned into her Persona is important and I will explain the significance through a later chapter but know that it is important. Naoto though feels horrible for things I am intentionally trying to keep vague at least until Amaya's Palace but I want Naoto and Amaya to be able to get along as a family now that they are around each other more than any time previously.**

**Horus is the same Persona I had for Amaya in the first version I didn't have a clear idea in mind for what I wanted it to be or represent. I have finally decided though in a way that feels good to me so I hope it sounds good to you readers. While Arsene is a parallel to Loki in the story of P5, I want Horus to be parallel to Robin Hood. Even though he has the same attributes as another character who I will show later that being Bless and Physical I wanted to mirror the stats that these 2 characters have and change the other character's moveset a bit like the rest of the cast. This is my current moveset for Horus including level ups so I hope people like it. If anyone has any ideas I am perfectly fine if you leave me a comment in reviews, thanks. **

Horus (Starts at Level 20)

Megido

Mind Slice

Kouga

Sukunda

Makhouha -LV 23-

Masukunda -LV 28-

Tetraja -LV 32-

Kougaon-LV 37-

Sword Dance -LV 44-

Makouga-LV 49-

Dodge Curse-LV 52-

Megidola -LV 55-

Concentrate -LV 60-

**Thanks.**


	5. Luster

Chapter 5

Luster

Disclaimer: I should have put this on the summery and I will but I don't own any of the characters from Persona, the rights go to Atlus and Sega, but Amaya is my character. I'm putting this on every future chapter sorry.

6/24/XX

(Naoto POV)

-Shadow Operative Tokyo Headquarters-

Naoto was going to give her report that she and Amaya had successfully moved into Tokyo anyway today but she also knew that a bigger problem of hers had been happening under the surface. She couldn't sense Sukuna-Hikona at all over the sense of pain she felt every time she looked at Amaya until she couldn't sense her Persona at all. As she walked into the Shadow Operative building she felt a strange numbing sensation in her heart that she couldn't identify. She was all of a sudden worried and sped herself up to the counter and the receptionist looked up.

"Hello, welcome to the Shadow Operative Tokyo Building, how can I help you?"

"M-My name is Naoto Shirogane, I was supposed to be seeing Mitsuru today. I fear that I may also need to get checked because as I walked in I felt something strange."

"A-Are you worried it could be a m-mental shutdown?"

"I'm worried it could be. I hope it isn't though, and I'm coherent and not feeling any other symptoms of one so I just need to see what is going on. Is Aigis here today?"

"No, she is on a mission at the moment but Labrys is on duty. I will call up Ms. Yamagishi to call up Ms. Kirijo."

"T-Thanks, where should I go?"

"Just a second."

The receptionist pulled out what seemed to be a walkie talkie from the desk. And she spoke into it and Naoto heard it go off from the intercom above.

"Labrys, could you come to the front lobby? Labrys to the front lobby please hurry."

After a moment Naoto heard shutter doors open and out came running a familiar face. Labrys came through the door and ran up to Naoto with a truly concerned look on her face.

"Naoto-Kun, are you alright? You look as pale as a ghost."

"Hi, Labrys, but no, I don't feel alright, I feel like something is taking all of my energy."

"A-All right Naoto, Put your arm around me and I'll get you to Fuuka's Lab."

Naoto slung her arm over Labrys's Neck and she was helped to the lab where she abruptly passed out.

Naoto woke up slowly, she kept her eyes closed and was mainly listening to silence until her hearing returned to her and she heard a conversation.

"So Fuuka, what happened to her?"

"I did the scan Mitsuru, and I can assume that a painful feeling of hers became more prevalent and was able to overcome her Persona. When I did the scan I was able to tell that the Persona was there but not in a complete state. It almost seemed to me to be like it was being suppressed somehow like Strega's were."

"So whatever this was, it weakened her overtime as Strega's did. Then what caused her to pass out?"

"I felt a pulse come from her Persona as if something was happening through another way that was restoring it somehow."

"What is her state now?"

"She should be fine, she could wake up any-"

"I'm awake."

Naoto opened her eyes and tried sitting up a little but noticed she was still physically exhausted.

"Are you alright Shirogane?" Naoto looked up and saw Mitsuru on the screen on the wall and nodded.

"I feel strange but for some reason, better than I have in about a month."

"That's great!" Naoto saw as Fuuka Yamagishi, the SO's Navigator spoke up giddily.

"Do you know what happened Shirogane?" Naoto looked down at Mitsuru's question.

"I heard what you said but I was going to mention this anyway. I had been having issues sensing my Persona until I couldn't feel it at all. I was worried that I may have done something to reject it."

"I'm not sure that any of the Persona users we know of can do that," Fuuka said looking at the screen that had Naoto's vitals, "I'm looking at your vitals now and I feel that you potentially created a Pseudo Shadow that suppressed your Persona. Ideas like resentment and anguish can do this. I remember you said your Boyfriend had issues summoning his Persona correctly when you went to fight Namatame."

"We all did actually, that just wasn't a good time at all for that. But you say that resentment and in that same line, regret can be the cause of my current predicament?"

"Yes, why?"

"I feel that I know what it was about then."

"Oh? Care to clarify Shirogane?"

"I believe I told you before coming here that I was feeling uncomfortable becoming Amaya's guardian."

"Yes you did," Mitsuru said looking at Naoto with a little concern showing on her face. "Is this what is causing your current level of unrest?"

"...Yes. We all know Amaya is very… distant from others. He is so judgmental of everything and just holds everything in and barely ever expresses emotions other than apathy or anger."

"I've never met Amaya-Kun in the real world. All I had the chance to meet was his Shadow." Mitsuru looked Naoto in the eye with a very serious look.

"Have you seen Amaya show signs of his shadow potentially returning?" Naoto looked down at the lab floor in a very depressed manner.

"...Uh...I can't say." Mitsuru looked at her with an accusatory gaze.

"What do you mean by that? Shouldn't it be a yes or no answer?"

"Mitsuru, it is more complicated than that. Amaya's Shadow has indeed been showing its presence in regular conversation and has even spoken through Amaya but it hasn't seemed like it has enough of influence over him to do more than those short bursts I've seen. I hope Amaya is being able to at least contain and hopefully reason with his Shadow, but knowing him I believe the former is more likely. Urk-!" Naoto crumbled a little in what she thought was a surge of pain before it became gradual. Both Fuuka and Mitsuru looked at her very concerned.

"Shirogane, what's wrong?! Fuuka, is there something up with her vitals?"

"I-I'm checking now!" Fuuka went over to the computer to see something she didn't expect coming from the Persona regulator. "Huh!? Her Persona is getting stronger!"

"Huh?" Mitsuru and Fuuka's confusion only became more so when they saw Naoto start to glow a bit and her Persona reading became very clear somehow. As the light began to recede they noticed as the floating Tarot card was in front of Naoto but instead of being Fortune like it had before, this time it was the Justice Arcana. The card then turned into light and went into Naoto and almost as soon as that happened Naoto seemed to get some energy back but she put her hands on her face and started crying. Mitsuru and Fuuka didn't know why she was but they heard Naoto mumbling a single word in between her sobs.

"..._Why?_"

-Mementos-

(Akira POV)

Akira and the others after getting to Mementos were going through the first area which Morgana had said was where the energy from the fight seemed to be coming from but as they got near the end of the floor they heard what sounded to be the sounds of huge guns firing and the rattling of chains as well as the sounds of blades on metal along with the occasional explosion. Akira veered the Monamobile around the corner to see a horrifying sight, they saw the Reaper, the very beast they feared running into every single time they got down into Mementos but they also saw someone they didn't recognize, they had what seemed to be a black and blue warrior outfit with a golden cape. They also wielded a golden hilted sword that looked like it might even have a silver blade. The last thing about this figure was the golden feather mask that was almost in the shape of a mask you would find at a masquerade. Akira knew this person was a Persona user simply judging by their appearance but had a knacking feeling that he knew this person. Not wanting to delay the help any longer, Akira sped up the Monamobile ramming it into the Reaper from behind. The Reaper which was taken by surprise from this was sent flying until it landed behind the other Persona user who then turned to face it, thus having their back to the Thieves. Akira drove the Thieves up and He, Ryuji, Ann, and Yusuke jumped out while Queen stayed in the Monamobile for a speedy getaway. While Ryuji, Ann, and Yusuke ran to keep the Reaper distracted for a moment, Akira ran up to the other Persona user who was using this given distraction to catch their breath.

"Hello, it seems you have your hands tied here. Need some help?" The other Persona user nodded.

"Yeah, I do. I am wiped from fighting this thing but I couldn't avoid it since it was here when I came up here. It was almost as if this thing was waiting for me." That made Akira a little confused, he knew the Reaper was an intelligent Shadow but it hadn't waited for them on a floor in all the time they had explored Mementos. It only showed up once when they wanted to test it and were able to survive one hit before running away hoping to never have to face this thing again.

"That's odd. This thing has never done that to us before. Would you mind us helping to keep this thing occupied long enough to escape?"

"With all due respect, I could simply block this thing from following us since I'm no longer behind it, thanks for that by the way." Akira was surprised to hear a thank you from this person but was intrigued by whatever plan they may have up their sleeve.

"You don't have to thank me, this is just what we do. My group and I have the firm belief to help others and that doesn't make you any different. What are you thinking about the way to keep this thing from following us?"

"Heh, easy." They then turned to the other three fighting the Reaper, "I'd stand back if I were you!" They then reached to their face and their mask burst into flames as the Phantom Thieves did when summoning their Personas, "Horus, Megido!" Flames appeared behind him which formed into a golden embroidered half-bird, half-person appeared and summoned almighty magic which collided into the ceilings and wall and this caused the subway tunnel before them to collapse into a huge pile of rubble that blocked the way down to the next floor. The figure then turned to Akira, "Um, I should have asked but does that stop anyone from going down there now?" Akira shook his head.

"No, this place corrects any damage done once we leave, it will disappear along with that thing after we get out of here. Just to get this out of the way, what's your name?" The figure seemed very confused by this question.

"Hmm? What do you mean? We already know each other don't we…?" The figure then looked down at themselves, "OH! Well, that explains a lot about why I'm not recognizable.

Akira was taken aback by this. This meant that he should already know who this person was and they even sounded familiar to him. Akira looked at the figure again to see if anything triggered any sort of memory in him and nothing did… until he saw this person's hair. Dark blue in a shape that went around the mask and this person's face and not concealing it. This was a red flag for Akira because he only knew of one person with this hair that has been to the Metaverse before.

"A-Amaya?" The figure jolted up out of their train of thought.

"Yes, Akira?"

"U-Uh, when did you get a Persona?"

"Um, about ten to fifteen minutes ago I believe. I really wouldn't mind going home for the day though."

"I wouldn't mind going home myself but would you mind talking with us at the Shibuya Diner or somewhere to explain what happened here?"

"Uh, sure. I'm pretty sure everyone but you and Morgana even know about what happened yesterday?"

"...Yeah, we never got around to talking to the others about it."

"Then shouldn't we get going and get this over with?"

"Yeah, just to ask do you have any preference in where to sit?"

"Not really, I'll sit in the back."

Akira, Amaya and the others ran to the Monamobile, all of the other thieves looked at Akira in confusion for allowing someone they didn't know go with them, Akira simply mouthed, 'I'll explain upstairs' and the team seemed to at least drop the confusion but not their guard. The seating arrangement went, Makoto-Ann, Yusuke-Akira-Ryuji, Amaya, so it didn't seem all too bad. Makoto took the wheel and sped the Monamobile towards the direction they came in and towards the exit of Mementos.

When they got to the platform and everyone was ejected from Morgana's van form Akira sees as Amaya barely sticks the landing and as soon as he lands on his feet, his legs give out and he seems to collapse. Ryuji and Yusuke who were the closest to Amaya caught him and each held one of his arms as they got to the safe space outside the floors of Mementos.

(Amaya POV)

Amaya felt unbelievably tired for a reason he couldn't comprehend. When he collapsed he felt as two people grabbed his arms to help him get up the last remaining staircase to getting out of Mementos. Once they got to the top the guys helped Amaya into a sitting position against a pillar and the others sat down around him. Amaya looked up and was able to pinpoint a few of the people he hadn't recognized immediately, he saw Ann wearing a dominatrix outfit which confused him a bit, Ryuji looked like someone you would see in an American Mafia film, and Makoto looked a Desert Raider straight out of Mad Max. The final guy wearing the Fox mask that helped him up the stairs he didn't recognize at all though which interested Amaya. After everyone was sitting down the Thieves all looked at him with a curious look like they didn't know what to think of him. Morgana broke the silence though in a surprising fashion.

"Wait, HUH!? I just recognized you, how did you get back here and when did you get a Persona?!" Amaya was tired but he knew he wouldn't be able to avoid these questions, not only because he didn't feel he needed to, and that the Thieves near him were undoubtedly confused.

"To answer the first part, I got the App yesterday and noticed it when I got home, second, I got my Persona I believe about 15 to 20 minutes ago and right before I ran into that cyclopean monster blocking the way out." Makoto seemed concerned and looked at Morgana.

"Wait, Mona, you know this person?" Morgana nodded and Akira looked at Amaya.

"Do you have an issue if I were to explain things?" Amaya shook his head.

"No, I am exhausted right now so go right ahead." Akira nodded as if accepting this and turned to the others.

"It's Amaya in that armor." Amaya watched with a satisfied smirk sneaking onto his face as he sees everyone except Akira and Morgana's eyes widen considerably before looking at him almost in sync.

"HUH!?" Everyone who turned except the guy in the fox mask exclaimed.

After a minute of the other Phantom Thieves getting a grasp on the situation, Makoto spoke up. "Uh, Amaya, how did you get into the Metaverse?"

"I saved Akira from getting mugged in the Alleyway near Untouchable and forced him to show me this place as I knew Morgana wasn't a normal cat in any way."

"He got us good." Morgana piped in, "I hadn't considered he noticed my activity and what he said when we brought him here to Mementos showed he noticed other things. Skull's attempt at acting as a decoy, Queen's bad acting when his Palace Location triggered the Nav, and even the strange way you all tried getting to know him." Amaya was confused to hear Morgana say Skull and Queen when talking about Ryuji and Makoto.

"Skull? Queen? I know all of your names so why are you using codenames?"

"Oh, we forgot to tell you yesterday, we feel it is dangerous to use our real names in the Metaverse. Since it is connected to the minds of people when in Palaces or seeing the collective public like here, we wouldn't want our real names to possibly cause our cover to be blown in the real world."

"AH, ok that makes sense. What are all of your code names then?"

"I am Joker, the leader," Akira said doing a bow.

"I am Mona, the Navigator, and Resident Vehicle," Morgana said looking proud of himself and his eyes almost seemed to sparkle with yellow light.

"Skull here, I'm the Muscle," Ryuji said with a smug smile.

"I am Panther, the decoy and actress," Ann said smiling widely. Ryuji popped up though and looked at her with a lopsided glance.

"Uh, Panther, your acting sucks. It barely tricked Yusuke back with Madarame."

"Shut it Skull! Also, you just said Fox's name!"

"Oops, sorry!"

"It's fine," The guy with the Fox Mask said doing a formal bow to Amaya. "We haven't met yet. I am Yusuke Kitagawa, a former student of Madarame and artist for the Phantom Thieves. My code name is Fox."

"Nice to meet you, Fox, I assume you are behind the great look of Madarame's calling card?"

"That is correct."

"Very impressive. I commend the style and the guts to have spread the calling card around the Exhibit without getting caught." Morgana snickered jumping forward.

"That was my handiwork. Skull made and planted Kamoshida's calling card because he knew the ins and outs of the school, I, however, placed Madarame's since there were monitored security cameras and they couldn't do much about a cat placing them. Skull's calling card was unrefined in comparison but with Fox's help perfected the flashiness of the calling cards."

"Normally I'd be mad at that comment Mona, but you just said mine was unrefined. I accept that since it means it just wasn't perfect." Morgana mumbled a little disappointedly.

"Take it how you will then."

Makoto heard that as well and gently but forcibly smacked Morgana in the back of the head and then she looked at Amaya. "I am Queen, driver, shadow checker, and second in command in battle."

"I assume you also act as the anchor in this group too?"

"What do you mean?"

"You stopped that potential argument from even beginning and kept the group on task even when we were all together yesterday. To me, you seem to be needed in a group like this to keep it functional." Makoto blushed hearing that.

"I-It makes me happy to hear that but I'm still the newest and least experienced member on the team." After Makoto said this, Akira stepped forward to Amaya.

"You know all of us and know our secret now Amaya. You even have the power of a Persona and knowledge of Combat. I would like to ask, would you be willing to join the Phantom Thieves?"

Amaya was surprised to hear this as were the others and they all held their breath waiting for Amaya's answer. Amaya was thinking, they were the only people his age that seemed to care about him, they reached out to him without the need for something in return, they even risked their lives to save him from the monster when they could have otherwise left him for dead. Amaya had told Akira and Morgana yesterday that there was nobody else he would trust with his Palace and his life and Amaya now felt that even more so than before. He had made his decision. He looked up at Akira and saw as everyone else held their breath again.

"I already was empathetic with your goal before I moved here and getting to know most of you only increased that. If you are truly offering me a chance to join you and your friends then I see no issues joining. I just hope that you don't have an issue with keeping the deal we made yesterday intact."

"Hmm? You have a Persona, doesn't that mean you shouldn't have a Palace?"

"I didn't tell you why I came here did I?" Akira shook his head. "I came to Mementos to check if people I know have Shadows here. I got one positive, my sister, Naoto."

"What!? How!?" Makoto seemed very confused to hear that.

"Naoto's Shadow was on the second floor and told me it was there seeking redemption for something she had done years ago that neither of us had been able to move on from. I was able to tell her that even if I am not over it, I forgive her and she faded away, and leaving behind this." Amaya pulled the Detective Prince Badge and showed it to the Thieves. "Right after she faded away I felt as a migraine began and a deep voice spoke to be almost chastising me for things only it seems to know. It called itself my Shadow and that it would be there in my Palace waiting for me and said something about letting something happen to cause the Domino Effect. The voice then disappeared and another, much less condescending voice spoke to me and it gave me my mask and caused Horus to appear."

"Interesting..." Morgana said seemingly contemplating this. "If you have a Persona but your primary Shadow still exists then that could make you a potential Wild Card like Joker."

"Wild Card?"

"I can use multiple Personas and get more to my cause by convincing Shadows. I also have a special ability to create new Personas but this puts me at a disadvantage. This is what was happening when you saved me in the alleyway." Makoto took out her phone.

"I would like to at least see if Amaya's Palace still exists to see what we should do. Amaya Shirogane."

-Match Found-

"Well, we know his location. We just need the Distortion and we can go to his Palace, right? Doesn't that mean we could deal with Kaneshiro and then help Amaya?" Ryuji said seeming to be excited. Morgana looked down with a conflicted expression on his face.

"Sadly Skull, I don't think it will be that easy. I fear that Amaya's Palace will be that easy to access. The Shirogane Estate is a long way away and I don't believe any of you can go on a trip like that especially at a length as long as a Palace without worrying people."

"That's true… Oh, why not during summer break then? That's a month which is a little longer than we needed for Kamoshida and Madarame's Palaces and nobody would think twice about friends going on a road trip or something."

"I feel that we should make sure Kaneshiro is dealt with before making more plans. He is a threat to us and the people of Shibuya and we still have to worry about the deadline he has before Framing all of us and I get sent straight to Juvie or worse." Akira said with a face that showed true worry. He turned to Amaya again. "Would it be okay if we were to wait a bit for your Palace?"

"Yeah, of course. I understand that doing it would be a huge hassle so I have to be willing to be understanding. I don't even see it as something that needs to be done in a hurry so I'm fine with the wait. I would still be fine joining you guys."

"For Real!? You would be willing to join us after a day of knowing us?"

"I know that you all mean well. I may not be the best at conversation or even understanding things like sarcasm but I can tell the motives and intentions of people by things like body language and how they act from speech to the way they try hiding things. I can tell you are all being sincere and truly want to help others. This is something I can get behind and knowing the corruption of the law system through my own family, I know that there is nothing that can be done about it normally. Something like this is necessary to fix the issues of society."

"If you are indeed going to join us then we need to find a Code name for Amaya," Ann said.

"What about King?" Yusuke said. "Your outfit matches the look of one and it would make a set with Queen." Makoto blushed heavily for a reason Amaya understood and he assumed Yusuke didn't.

"I don't think so. It would almost seem like I'm the leader in that context. I don't think it would work too well."

"How about Mardoux?" Ann asked. "It sounds like Mardi which is part of a famous mask holiday, the Mardi Gras."

"The name sounds cool but I don't think so. I feel it would be too dark for me."

"How does Osiris sound?" Morgana asked. "Osiris is an Egyptian God that matches with your Persona."

"This is similar to the issue with Fox and Panther's recommendations, Osiris was the king of the underworld, in other words, death, as well as being Horus's father in those myths."

"I have an idea then," Akira said. "How does Luster sound? It's another word for light and it is generic enough that it doesn't put you in any designated category."

"...Luster… That sounds perfect. I guess from now on I'm Luster."

Amaya felt as a familiar voice spoke to him again.

**I am thou, thou art I.**

**Thou hast learned the power of trust**

**it shall become the key to freedom**

**and end the sadness in your heart.**

**With the power of the Priestess, Emporer, Lovers, and Chariot Arcana**

**thou hast gained the ability to give strength to others.**

**May you get strength in unity.**

Amaya also saw as 4 Arcana cards appeared before him along with a stronger feeling from the Magician and Fool Arcana which joined the other 4 and they all entered him in and Amaya felt a surge of energy. Not feeling the more drastic cracking sound happening in his heart and the maniacal laughter that was accompanying it.

(Fool Rank 3, Priestess Rank 2, Magician Rank 2, Lovers Rank 2, Chariot Rank 2, Emporer Rank 1.)

-Chapter End-

**Hey, FatesAwakener here. I wanted to do something special this time. I have created a Discord Server called Tesseract, this is a Server for things in general from people's fanfiction ideas to simply being a hub for people to talk in. I have the Server Link here and the first 100 people will be given it but some rules will be enforced and there will be more links in the future from future chapters to my profile on and maybe AO3 eventually. **

** discord .gg/ ndcTU4W**

**If you remove the spaces it should work. (Hopefully) I hope to be able to talk to you on the Tesseract Server. I will have a specific channel there for me to post updates if people want to see it and there are no issues with people's opinions on the server as long as they fall in line with the rules. I will also be posting some of these little talks on there including things like ideas to see what people think. Once again thanks for reading and I will talk to you all either on Tesseract or in the next chapter or so.**


	6. Broken Puzzles

Chapter 6

Broken Puzzles

**I apologize it took so long to get this chapter out but a few things had happened which took time. I have been busy and have been trying to get through Royal as fast as I can to speed the story along. I hope you all enjoy.**

6/24/XX

-Shibuya, Shirogane Residence-

Amaya had gotten his lowdown on the target by his new teammates as well as an explanation for their plans to start going after Kaneshiro the next day. Amaya hadn't heard of this man before but he knew of his group. These guys were notorious for their expulsion of minors for their evil doings and hearing that Makoto risked everything just to help them get to him made Amaya sure he would do his best to help put Kaneshiro in the ground. For some reason, he felt a little extra resolve in himself than he expected but decided to not dwell on that and to go to sleep and prepare for the heist preparations tomorrow.

Amaya fell asleep and felt himself moving, he opened his eyes to see something that scared the hell out of him. He was flying on the back of a huge beast with gigantic wings and he couldn't control his body. Amaya wasn't even able to move his head but he was able to look around and saw a few things that perplexed him almost as much as his current predicament. He saw a group of people close by and some of them Amaya felt that he recognized, Naoto and what he could only guess as a younger Yu that he saw in Naoto's phone. They were all looking up at something and Amaya followed their gaze and could guess if he could move his jaw would drop and the blood would drain from his face. There was a massive monster in the sky, seemingly coming out of a portal, covered in flame and seemingly completely made out of darkness. This beast roared and fired a fireball at the group and Amaya felt as his body leaned forward and jumped off of whatever he was riding and turned to saw the thing he had been riding better, Amaya could only describe as a Frankenstein-ish monster lion. It was on all fours, had a mouth full of teeth that could impale someone, what almost looked like a scorpion tail, claws that looked like they could scale walls, huge almost bat-like wings, and spikes on its body that almost looked like projectiles. Amaya heard a voice come out of his mouth that was not his own. It was gravely and almost sounded demonic with how off tone it was from his own.

"**Black Lightning."**

Amaya saw as the huge beast started generating black bolts of lighting before firing it out of its mouth like a laser beam at the beast. When the hit collided with the fireball, going through it and hitting the monster. This caused some visible damage to the beast and saw as it felt pain and roared and the group all looked at Amaya shocked. Amaya felt as his gaze locked with Naoto's and he saw her gasp and Amaya felt himself nod.

Amaya was confused by this dream but just as he was going to continue looking around, the red fog seemed to obscure his vision and he heard a strange voice in his head.

"**Remember."**

Amaya then lost consciousness but not before feeling a strange power from the Devil Tarot Card as it ranked up to 3. Amaya had an odd feeling that that wasn't a dream at all.

"AH!"

Amaya startled himself awake in a cold sweat and noticed that his entire body was shaking like he just watched a horror movie. Amaya looked at the clock and saw the current time was 9:30 PM. He had gone to bed early from the exhaustion surrounding his Awakening as Morgana called it but due to that dream, Amaya could very well guess for the time being that he wasn't going back to sleep soon. As his uncontrollable tremors seemed to die down Amaya got out of bed and opened his door and walked into the living room. Naoto was there on the couch going over some files, likely of a case she was recently assigned but this made Amaya remember what he did earlier with her Shadow and decided to try talking to her.

"...N-Naoto?" Naoto looked up at him with a surprised expression on her face that Amaya was able to notice immediately.

"O-Oh, good evening Ami, I thought you were sleeping."

"I j-just woke up. ...Dammit." Amaya noticed that one of his arms started shaking again and Naoto seemed to notice and he saw her looking at him carefully. After a second she gave him a concerned look.

"Ami, are you alright? It looks like you had a nightmare."

"Y-Yeah I did. The first one I've had in some time."

"Would you like to talk about it? I'm always here if you need it you know?" Amaya shook his head.

"No, I wouldn't want to trouble you. You are in the middle of something and I don't want to inconvenience you." Naoto then looked at him with a frustrated but stern look on her face.

"Amaya, I'm your sister and guardian. You have the right to ask for help at any time." Naoto then looked down with a sad look on her face. "...I-I know that I haven't done that good of a job as your sister recently so I want to at least make up for the poor job I did. You deserve it and never deserved how the family and I treated you before. I don't think I could ever forgive myself for that. If there is anything in my life that I would call an absolute failure it would be that. I should have been there for you when you needed it and for that, I will forever be sorry. I'm not expecting you to forgive me, I just want you to know that for now on, you are more of a priority than my work."

Amaya didn't know what to say, Naoto was saying similar things to what her shadow had said before but to hear it from Naoto herself made Amaya feel strange, he didn't know why but for the first time in a long time he felt legitimately happy and he could even feel his eyes water. He almost didn't notice Naoto walk up to him and pull him into a hug, Amaya felt as if a huge weight was being taken off of his shoulders somehow and finally allowed himself to hug Naoto back and started crying. Over his own soft sobbing Amaya was able to see the Justice Tarot card in front of him and he felt as his connection to Naoto became more prevalent than before. This was one connection Amaya didn't want to tarnish again … every again. (Justice Rank 4)

After a moment Amaya was able to calm down enough to control his crying and Naoto let go and looked at him with an expression that showed care and concern for him. Amaya was very surprised to see that coming from Naoto but if he was going to talk to her it would be on the dream and not of his new allies, he would have to be very careful with that.

"Ami, would you like to sit down and tell me about that dream? You don't have to if you don't want to."

"...I should. This is going to keep bugging me if I don't and if you are being sincere with what you said then I feel that I should let you in a little bit for now."

"That is fine, I don't expect you to open up to me completely now, especially after all that's happened but let's sit down first."

Amaya sat down on the couch next to Naoto and looked down thinking of how he would explain the dream.

"It started strangely, I simply felt that I was moving though I wasn't moving my body though I could still feel movement. I opened my eyes and noticed that I was in a strange place, the sky was red and filled with a strange looking mist, I was flying on top of a beast of some sort and I was looking down and I saw a rooftop below me and I thought I saw you and Narukami-San. I don't remember much else but I do remember jumping off of the beast, something happened and the two of us locked eyes for a second and then I blacked out." Amaya didn't notice but Naoto's eyes were widening to the size of dinner plates and her face was losing color.

"Wow, Ami, that's a scary dream."

"Honestly it wasn't that scary to me directly, but things within the dream that are hazier for me now to remember made me wake up in a cold sweat. The only other thing I remember was at the end of the dream I heard the word 'Remember' whatever that means."

"Are you alright Ami? Would you like to fall asleep out here where I am?"

"U-Uh, if that would be okay with you, I don't want to seem childish due to a dream."

"Ami, it isn't childish, I know plenty of people that have horrifying nightmares, they may be a part of life but that doesn't mean they don't mean anything. I am perfectly fine if you want to stay here for a while, I will probably wake you up when I have to leave for my station duty."

"Thanks, Nao. You know, this reminds me of how things used to be before… the incident."

"Yeah, it does. I hope things can stay like this."

"I agree. ...I know you have said you feel bad about what happened but I feel sorry as well." Amaya then looked down at the floor, "I know I also haven't been the nicest myself. I've acted like an asshole to people who were trying to help me, I just didn't know what to do."

"Ami, you were acting exactly as you should have when given the situation you were, Yakushiji, Grandpa, and I all knew that especially after how terribly the family treated you."

"Y-Yeah… I'm still embarrassed that it went as far as it did."

"You have no reason to be embarrassed, you did what you felt was important even though it wasn't the best action and we were eventually able to help you so I see this as a good thing."

"Thanks." Amaya was feeling tired all of a sudden. "U-Uh, so it's okay if I just sleep out here?"

"Of course. How about I move to the chair and you sleep here on the couch."

"Sounds good to me thanks Nao."

"Good night Ami." Naoto gives Amaya a small hug and then gets up and moves over to the chair. After about 5 minutes Amaya fell back asleep.

(Naoto POV)

Amaya had just fallen asleep on the couch and Naoto knew what she needed to do now. She took her phone out and called someone.

"Mitsuru speaking."

"Hello Mitsuru-San, I apologize for contacting you so late but just a few minutes ago I got important news from Amaya."

"I take it that it isn't good news. If it was I don't believe you would call with this sense of urgency."

"I fear that is the case. Amaya woke up in a cold sweat about ten minutes ago and walked out and talked to me. I told him about how now he is more important than my work, especially since I don't have a real 'case' that I am working on at the moment. He recounted his nightmare and it seemed to be almost identical to that of the ending of the P1 Climax."

"Wait, do you mean that he is remembering things his shadow alone should know?"

"Honestly I don't even know if that is the case. Amaya told me that at the end of his dream he locked eyes with me before everything went out and he heard a voice in his head saying the word 'Remember'. It seems to me that his shadow is directly communicating with him but beyond that, I don't have enough information."

"I feel bad having to ask this of you Naoto-San but we may need you to watch Amaya. I know this isn't ideal but from your earlier episode that went in line with one of the smaller changes of hearts and the fact that Amaya's Shadow seems to be back he might be the way we can find information about the Tokyo Shadow Nest."

"Understood Mitsuru-San, we don't want him appearing again especially if we don't have access to that Shadow Nest yet. One last question before I go, do you still want me and Teddie to look for the Phantom Thieves?"

"I want Teddie-San to continue looking into the possible Phantom Thieves along with our suspicious individual at the school but I assume that if Amaya indeed does have access or a connection to this Shadow Nest then one way or another he may lead you to the Phantom Thieves."

"Understood Mitsuru-San, Thank you for your time and I will begin this starting in the morning."

"Understood Naoto-San, good night."

-Intermission-

FatesAwakener here, I feel that something I should do now is to show Akira's Confidants since I have already done so with Amaya. I do want to emphasize that this is different from both Royal and vanilla P5 as much as possible. Now here is the Confidant Level Akira has right now.

**Fool Rank 4 ("Igor")**

**Strength Rank 4 (Twins)**

**Lovers Rank 5 (Ann)**

**Chariot Rank 5 (Ryuji)**

**Magician Rank 5 (Morgana)**

**Emporer Rank 4 (Yusuke)**

**Priestess Rank 1 (Makoto)**

**Tower Rank 1 (Amaya)**

**Justice Rank 1 (Akechi)**

**Hierophant Rank 3 (Sojiro)**

**Hanged Man Rank 2 (Iwai)**

**Moon Rank 5 (Mishima)**

**Fortune Rank 1 (Chihiya)**

This is all here to show what is currently going on. But there are 2 noticeable absences in this list for those who have gotten to this point in the game in Royal as I have, Faith and Consultant. Both of these are for a reason which I am going to explain later. But also to say it now, there are also a few things in particular to the story that have been skipped as a result of the story taking place during the Kaneshiro arc, for example, The entirety of Kamoshida and Madarame, the Cleaning event, the TV Station field trip as well as Makoto's Threat and the scene with Kaneshiro. These may have been skipped but things in particular including the things with Madarame and Kamoshida will be reflected on later either through things like flashbacks or if necessary later in the game for those who have done the final dungeon of P5. The infamous pancake scene didn't happen in this story to make it harder later on for the team, the cleaning event did happen with one major change which was mentioned earlier in this paragraph, and Makoto's thing has already happened and since most people that read this I assume played regular P5 and since I don't think I would have changed things means it would have simply been the same thing over again. Now back to the missing confidants, they will still be here, well maybe sooner than you expect but I have tried to change the story enough to make it not seem too out of place. Well okay, with the brunt of that done then I feel I can continue with the chapter.

-Intermission Concluded-

6/25/XX

(Akira POV)

-Velvet Room-

Akira felt as he was brought back into the Velvet Room in his sleep for what felt like the 20th odd time that Igor had done this. As usual, he got off the bed and walked up to the bars and looked out at the twins and Igor on the other side of the bars.

"**I would like to congratulate you on your performance this week. Not only have you gotten a new ally to face the evils of the world with but you have even succeeded in gaining access to the next palace. I am impressed as to this turn of events.**"

Caroline banged her baton against the bars. "Our master has given you words of praise, you better savor this for as long as you can Inmate!"

Akira did want to ask about how Amaya could have a shadow and a palace and yet be a persona user so he figured he should ask if given the option.

"Igor, I have a question."

"**Of course Trickster, what is your question?**"

"Amaya has a Persona so how can he have a Palace and Shadow as well? I was under the impression that wasn't possible."

"**Great question, I believe the best way to answer that is to explain what Personas are to their user. Personas are the part of people that they have accepted and it can even be falsified.**"

"Falsified?"

"**A falsified Persona is similar to the forms that Palace rulers take when their treasure is in danger. It is an aspect of themselves that they either created for themselves or something that was made by outside influence or by accident that hides their true nature. To put this into context with your friend Amaya, I would say that his Persona is only the part of himself he has accepted about himself. His Shadow likely is the part he cannot feel he can accept or it exists for other purposes whether that means through trauma or distorted thoughts and memories.**"

"Okay, so in other words, a Persona can be created incomplete if certain steps are not taken?"

"**That is an interesting way to put it but that is correct. I also called you here for another reason. I have created a special form of power for you to utilize, it is called the Gallows. Caroline, Justine, explain.**"

"Of course Master, go ahead Justine."

"The Gallows is a special utility. Here you can sacrifice unwanted Personas to another Persona and give it power, experience, and even a potential skill. We do have a limitation however, each Persona can only be sacrificed to once a day with an exception of your main Persona."

"Inmate, since Arsȅne is your true Persona you can sacrifice to it as much as you want but fair warning, the more you sacrifice to it a day, the less the Persona will get in strength."

Akira nodded liking the idea of this power. "I appreciate this new power and will use it accordingly."

"You better be thankful Inmate!" A ringing noise could be heard after Caroline spoke and she turned back to him. "All right Inmate, you have been here long enough, it's about time you wake up and go do your day."

-Leblanc Attic-

"YAWN!" Akira heard as Morgana woke up before him with great exhaustion with that massive Yawn. "Morning Akira, are you ready for another day?"

"Eh, I suppose so. I remember that today there isn't any school because of that seemingly sudden faculty meeting that Kawakami told us about. I believe that I am going to try and bring the team together and talk about things and maybe go to Kaneshiro's Palace today."

"...I see, so you want to help Amaya and Makoto get a better grasp on the situation and to get better teamwork with the others."

"Yeah, I assume that Makoto and Ann will be a good team but I don't know who if any that Amaya would work with. Ryuji and Yusuke work well together and You and I work together so I don't know how that would work for teams since we now have an odd number of people."

"Well, for the time being, why don't we just help Amaya? The two of us have the best combat skills overall and teaching someone else the ropes shouldn't be hard since you already had to do that with Yusuke and to a lesser extent, Makoto."

"Yeah, that's true. I don't even know what skills Amaya has, he used only Megido against the Reaper that I saw damn good skill that it is I don't know his element."

"Oh, I figured that out easily. He has Bless Skills, that clicked when he accepted the name Luster and how he didn't want a darker name."

"Ah, okay so kind of like Amaya mirrors me in away."

"I would assume so."

All of a sudden Akira's phone rang and he picked it up and saw it was Makoto calling. COnfused he accepted the call and brought it up to his ear.

"...Hello?"

"H-Hello Akira, Makoto here, sorry for calling this early but there is something I feel that I should let you know."

"Uh oh is it Kaneshiro threatening you again?"

"Uh, no. Kaneshiro has the upper hand so I assume if he was directly serious about this then he would have done something by now. But no, this is school-related. Principal Kobayakawa asked me to call you into school, I believe he wants you to talk to Dr. Maruki."

"...Of course. Leave it to Principal No-Neck to force me into this on a day off. Sigh… I'll go but only if it will shut him up about it. I wanted to avoid Maruki for as long as I could though."

"Why is that? I didn't think you had an issue with him."

"Technically I don't, it depends though… _'If he remembers me or not.'_"

"Well, I hope that it won't take too long but do you want to have us all meet at the hideout later today?"

"Yes, I'd say to have everyone meet up at the hideout at 1:30. That is when everyone is free I believe but Makoto?"

"Yes, Akira?"

"Amaya doesn't know where the hideout is and he is new here to Tokyo so I was wondering if you could show him around Tokyo or simply just Shibuya or other places of importance and help him ease into the life here more."

"Well, I have Student Council stuff for a while but later on I believe I can. Amaya doesn't know Ann, Ryuji, and Yusuke that much though so why not when going to Shujin do something like have Morgana spend time with Amaya and have the others show him around. Won't that help him get to know them more?"

"Great Idea! Not surprised to hear something like that from our resident intellectual."

"Oh please." Akira could imagine her blushing from the complement. "Well, I have to go. Good luck with Dr. Maruki, and I will see you and the others at 1:30."

"Got it. See you then Makoto."

After the call ended Akira couldn't hold it in anymore and groaned loudly in frustration.

"Not looking forward to this are you?"

"Nope. Might as well hurry and get this over with. Morgana, you should stay here so you don't have to deal with the crowded Shibuya train today."

"Thanks, Akira, I'll also be here when you get back."

-Shujin Academy Nurses Office-

Akira was dreading knocking on this door as he expected the next while would be one of torture but he also knew he couldn't run from this. He sighed and begrudgingly knocked on the door.

"Come in!"

Akira opened the door to see the new school adviser Takuto Maruki sitting in the chair with a laptop and pile of papers in front of him and an Apple Juice in his hand.

"Ah, Kurusu-Kun, long time no see. I'm surprised to see you here on a day off especially since this would be the first time you have come in."

"Sigh, like I had a choice. I got a call from Makoto a while ago saying Principal Kingpin was forcing me to come in for this."

"I apologize. I hadn't known he set this up, he did inform me that I was supposed to meet with a student but he didn't say he was forcing it."

"Yeah, I guess. So what do you want me to talk about?"

"I know this must be uncomfortable for you so I just want you to talk about what you feel comfortable with talking about with me. I know of your issues with the student body and I feel very disappointed for lack of a better word with Principal Kobayakawa for allowing things like your record to be spread with that much ease throughout the student body."

"Ha! Kingpin doesn't care about the students at all! He ALLOWED Kamoshida to do whatever he wanted to the Volleyball Team among other things. He broke Ryuji's leg simple in an act of shut the volleyball team down, he was allowed to RAPE a student and get away with it simply because he was responsible for the volleyball team being 'national'. The team is still National without his bullshit coaching so the fear Kobayakawa seemed to have was misplaced in the first place. He even was using Makoto with blackmail floating over her head if she didn't do things like looking into the Phantom Thieves instead of the Mafia affecting the student body like she should have been able to do!"

"Wow, Kurusu-Kun you really have a constant showing of seeing through authority. You are similar to your Fa-"

"I'm going to stop you right there! I do NOT want to talk about or even hear that especially in a place like this. That was kind of the real reason why I delayed coming in here as long as I did."

Maruki looked at him with what he could only assume was a vague level of understanding.

"Alright, I won't bring that up. I'm sorry, I should have expected that that topic would be hard for you so I won't bring it up anymore."

"...Thanks"

"Even if you don't believe it Kurusu-Kun, I am here for the students more than I am here as a member of the faculty."

Akira looked at Maruki with confusion likely apparent on his face. He had known Maruki years before this and didn't remember seeing a side of him that was like this. When he saw Maruki on stage after Kingpin brought him in to explain his role to the school Akira thought the whole thing was a complete act. He didn't remember Maruki being as big of an oaf before, he wasn't as big of an airhead as he seems to be now, he was more concerned with following protocol then caring about people. This was very far off from the Takuto Maruki he had known before. What had happened to change that if it is really changed at all. Akira, of course, didn't "trust" Maruki despite these changes but he was at least more willing to give him a chance now than he had previously done before.

"What do you intend to do while here at the Shujin then? Aren't you only here until November?"

"That is correct. My goal to conclude by then is to complete my personal mission with my research."

"What does your research entail?"

"I desire to find the struggles of emotion and pain and how they truly impact people and how some can hurt more than even physical injuries."

"...I'm pretty sure the both of us know plenty about that subject don't we?"

Akira saw as Maruki looked down sadly and Akira felt that he was missing a little something about the situation.

"You know what Kurusu-Kun?" Maruki looked up again with a twinkle in his eyes like he had an idea. "Let's make a deal. If you would be willing to put your two sense into my theories about things like emotional pain I could help you hopefully get over your issues with the past."

"You mean like you could act as a sort of therapist?"

"As you said Kurusu-Kun, we both know emotional pain on a more consistent basis than most others. I believe we could both help each other in that regard since I don't think you feel comfortable talking to someone about _that_ with someone who doesn't already know about it."

"..."

Akira thought about it, Maruki was right. He didn't like telling even Ryuji and Morgana about the full extent of his past and besides what got him his record he didn't talk about the part that really hurt him. He did need someone to talk to who already knew of the problem and would be willing to listen. Maruki's research also sounded like a good idea to help bolster as well, he knew plenty of people who have gone through hardship and got things they could never get over without extreme changes. Mishima, Shiho, Ann, Ryuji, Yusuke, Makoto, Amaya, and likely many more who haven't shown their scars. This was a chance to potentially help people who had no other place to go like himself and his friends.

"I accept that offer. This will likely work well for both of us." Akira reached his hand out to Maruki for a handshake that Maruki took.

"Then it is a deal."

Akira then felt as time came to a slow stop and he felt the usual feeling of a confidant being unlocked and he heard a familiar voice.

_I am thou, thou art I_

_Thou hast acquired a new vow._

_It shall become the wings of rebellion_

_that breaketh thy chains of captivity._

_With the birth of the Councillor Persona,_

_I have obtained the winds of blessing that_

_shall lead to freedom and new power._

Akira knew this was going to be interesting, to say the least.

-End Chapter-

**I apologize that it took so long to get this out, I was going to upload this last night but my computer died just as I was about to convert the doc to upload it. I have been going through Royal and caught up to this part of the game pretty fast and even accidentally found myself finishing Kaneshiro's Palace in one run all thanks to the magic of coffee. I'm expecting to actually do real chapters about Kaneshiro's Palace instead of the things that were my original versions. This is kind of my longest chapter yet which is a little important later. As always I hope you all enjoyed and I hope to see you all in the next one. One last thing, most of the things in this chapter that may not have enough context among other things WILL be clarified later on. The idea of this chapter is to show a broken puzzle and now it is up to you and the story to piece the individual pieces together.**


	7. Part of a Team (1 of 2)

Chapter 7

Part of a Team (1 of 2)

**Hello everyone, long time no see. I apologize it took so long for me to get this out. I was having a terrible writers' block that lasted about a month until about 2-3 hours before me posting this and couldn't think of how to even continue exactly where I left off in the story so I was working on where the story is going later down the line so I have a better grasp on how to get there. I also have an idea to see if it can help me break this writers block for good and flesh out the story more in a good way but I will explain that at the end. For now, I hope you enjoy and I hope to hear your thoughts in the review section.**

6/25/XX

(Amaya POV)

(Shibuya Shirogane Residence)

Amaya woke up to the smell of eggs and sausage which awakened his senses and got him to sit up from his unusual place of rest. As he sat up Amaya noticed right away that he was both incredibly sore all over and felt both drained and energized in a weird way he hadn't experienced for as long as he could remember. Looking around Amaya saw that he was on the couch and began to remember the events that had led up to this. He remembered his conversation with Naoto the night before as well as his Persona and Joining the Phantom Thieves that happened yesterday resurfaced in his mind. Once again he smelt breakfast and looked at the kitchen to see Naoto over the stovetop with her back to him seemingly preparing food. Amaya shook off the almost lethargic feeling he had and forced himself up off the couch before walking up to his sister. He moved as silently as he could and looked over her shoulder and saw what she was preparing, he saw cheese and sausage omelets which were made to be more practical than fancy but it had a look to it that definitely made it look like it was made with care. Amaya noticed that there were multiple omelets on the pan with there being four in total. Naoto for a second seemed out of things and was reaching to the condiment jars on the counter to likely add seasoning. Naoto had just opened one of the jars and it took a second before Amaya knew it could be a culinary disaster approaching.

"That's sugar Nao."

"SHRIEK!" Naoto snapped out of her trancelike state and brought the hand that almost grabbed sugar to her chest as she tried taking deep breaths. "...Ami, didn't I politely ask you not to do that?"

"Uh, you did but you were in a trance of some sort so I'm pretty sure this would have been the same outcome regardless. At least I stopped you from putting sugar on the omelets."

"Y-Yeah, thanks..."

"Cough' Cough' Well anyway, omelets? I haven't seen you make anything like this in a long time. Is today a special occasion?"

"N-No, not really. I just thought it would be nice to have something special and I remembered making these back on the estate."

"That does bring back memories. Didn't you accidentally put red pepper in one and Yakushiji took a bite and turned red?"

"HAHA! That's right! I forgot about that. That was of course before the incident and you took an almost protective state over the main Kitchen."

"Well after seeing multiple people make things that explode either in the stovetop, oven, or microwave, I had to try and make sure Yakushiji didn't have as much of a mess to clean up."

"...Yeah, he really meant a lot to you didn't he?"

"I probably would have stayed in my previous state without him. Him defying 'orders' to stay away from me and even bringing me food is the thing that got me to leave my room after… Mom and Dad died."

"I still can't believe that the family was insensitive enough to yell at you about that. Grandpa and I were worried about whether or not you survived the crash since your face was torn up by the glass."

"Having this damn scar as a constant reminder of it was the icing on the cake. At least it helped me stay away from the family when I started coming out."

"Yeah. By the way Ami, how are you feeling this morning? Feeling better after that talk last night?"

"Yeah, I am. I may not have had a dream after that but I do feel much better mentally. I do feel achy since I was on the couch but hey, pick your poison right?"

"True, true. Do you have any plans today since schools canceled?"

"Actually, I do. I met a few students at school and they're letting me hang out with them."

"That's great! Who are they?"

"Well, there is Makoto who we met when I first went to Shujin, Ryuji the track star, Ann the model, Akira the last transfer student, and their artist friend from Kosei, Yusuke."

"Hmm," Naoto seemed to be thinking about something and Amaya thought he knew what it was.

"How do your friends know this Yusuke?"

"He and Ryuji were old friends for a long time but they went to separate schools for their professions. Ryuji was for track and Yusuke was for art."

"...Ok, I understand. It's great that you know so many people already. Are you going anywhere specific with them today?"

"They said something about showing me places around the city but I don't know specifics. They haven't given a meeting spot yet."

-Ping!-

"Oh! Perfect timing!" Amaya pulled his phone out of his pocket. Makoto asked Yusuke, Ryuji, and Ann to go with Amaya and show him around Shibuya and Jichijoji. That sounds fun, Ryuji mentioned showing him the nearby Gym and Arcade, Ann and Yusuke said they were busy all day today but Yusuke asked if after everyone was free if they could go to the Jazz Bar in Kichijoji since there was to be a singer there tonight.

"I just got messages. The others want to show me around Shibuya and Kichijoji."

"That sounds fun! Any places, in particular, they are thinking about?"

"Ryuji wants me to go to the Gym with him which sounds fun, everyone agreed on going to the Jazz Club in Kichijoji afterward. Today seems crazy but exciting."

"Awesome! I hope you enjoy it. How about we eat breakfast before you go meet up with your friend at the Gym. You know that it's bad to work out on an empty stomach."

"Sounds good thanks Nao."

"No problem Ami, afterward I just hope you let me know how everything goes. I know you can take care of yourself but it still worries me."

"Sure thing. Thanks for the food."

After they ate, Amaya went to his room and grabbed a bag of clothes for the gym, his wallet, and looked at the bag Iwai gave him that held his weapon and he almost heard a voice in his head say he didn't need it. He walked out of the apartment and texted Ryuji that he was on his way to Central Street.

(Naoto POV)

Right after Amaya left Naoto pulled out her laptop and called the Tokyo Shadow Operatives line and Mitsuru, Fuuka, and Teddie answered.

"Naoto? Do you have something to report?"

"Yes, I do Mitsuru-San. Also, I have a question for Teddie which is why I called this channel."

"You need to ask me a question, Naoto-San? Is it about the Phantom Thieves?"

"Yes, it is Teddie. Who were you able to confirm about the Phantom Thieves?"

"I can confirm that there is a special cat that calls itself Morgana. I can smell it has the smell of magic which seems to me it was created by a higher being like Izanami. I can understand it probably because of my Shadow origins but nobody other than the Thieves seems to be able to understand it. I was also able to confirm their leader, Akira Kurusu, he is the one who karts Morgana around and was a transfer student before Amaya. I can also confirm Ann Takamaki and Ryuji Sakamoto. Both are students who were personally faulted by Kamoshida before I got here. Apparently all 3 of them had their reputations destroyed by him and they along with Morgana stopped Kamoshida alone. The only other one I was able to confirm is Makoto Niijima, the Student Council President. I believe she figured them out since I had seen her following Kurusu around and now hangs out with them with no issues."

"Interesting. Amaya said he has a group of friends who have let him hang out with them and all of those names match except he also mentioned a person named Yusuke."

"Oh!" Fuuka jumped in, "Yusuke Kitagawa! He was a student of Madarame!"

"So...each of them except President Niijima is connected to a target of the Phantom Thieves. What does that mean about Amaya? Do you think they might know about his shadow and are trying to have it join them?"

"Mitsuru-San, I understand that idea but remember what that topic would entail. Amaya's Shadow is tough enough to defeat a god when given the incentive. It didn't like the idea of working with us even with me among you and was even able to hide in plain sight and manipulate things behind the scenes until Minazuki blew his cover. I'm not sure unless either it had ulterior motives or additional reasons would do something like that."

"I see… In that case, I worry for the kids if they are being used by Amaya's Shadow if they don't know it. Do you have the ability to follow Amaya today Naoto-San?"

"Sadly I do not. Amaya told me what he would be doing today and said he would be going to a Gym here in Shibuya and then go to Kichijoji with the whole group."

"Ah, understood. Well, for the time being, we should keep our heads up and watch. I fear what would happen since we are being forced to keep our heads in the sand. We are very lucky Shido wasn't able to red tape us."

"Agreed. It does hurt that we have to act stupid as the Mental Shutdowns and Psychotic Breakdowns decimate the peace in this country."

"Yeah, well anyway, I have to continue my work and make sure Aigis and the others are alright in the UK."

"Alright Mitsuru-San, I should go as well. It was nice talking to you all. I'll talk to you again soon."

"Alright!"

(Amaya POV)

(Central Street)

Amaya had just gotten to Central Street and he could see it was rush hour for students today. He walked towards the Gym he was supposed to meet Ryuji at and saw his Blond Ally standing outside looking at his phone.

"Hey, Ryuji." Ryuji looked in his direction with a smile on his face as Amaya approached.

"Yo Amaya, you doin' good today?" Amaya Shrugged.

"Eh, had a nightmare last night but was at least able to have breakfast with my sister before coming here."

"That sounds nice. I had a similar thing. I get these weird dreams I don't even remember but they just make me anxious to the point it wakes me up. I had breakfast with my Mom at least."

"Yeah, those aren't fun… Well, why don't we forget all the depressing stuff and go inside?"

"Hell yeah! Oh, wait, before we head in..." Ryuji pulled a bottle out of the bag at his feet and handed it to Amaya. "Protein Shake. This will help bring you back up when working out brings you down."

"Thanks, man."

Amaya nodded his head in appreciation at Ryuji as he accepted the shake.

Amaya and Ryuji went into the Protein Lovers Gym, Ryuji paid for their visit which Amaya tried to stop but to no avail. Ryuji just turned to him with a prideful look on his face.

"Dude, I invited you here. Hell, no am I gonna make you pay! Not to mention my job pays well."

"...Ok, I'll let it pass this one time but that's it. I don't like it when people do things for me like this if I already owe said person." Ryuji looked confused at that.

"You already owe me? What do you mean?" Amaya looked around to make sure nobody was close by and whispered to Ryuji.

"You and the others saved me from that monster in Mementos."

"Oh, that. Think nothing of it. I consider that 'debt' resolved since you not only agreed to not report us to your sister or other cops, and joined the team. Honestly one of those would cancel it out so, in all honesty, I owe you one."

"Well, both of those are already things that I didn't consider to even be a concern since I already had my agreement with Akira… But also, you all agreed to take on my Palace eventually which means more for me then you likely know."

"Well… I know this is gonna sound absolutely cheesy but do you know why we formed our group?"

"To stop and get revenge on Kamoshida?" Ryuji bashfully rubbed the back of his head to that comment.

"W-Well that was our first job but it wasn't a fully-realized team at that point. Hehem', Our reason is to help people in need. Especially those harmed by shitty adults. "

Amaya was surprised to hear that coming from Ryuji "...Wow… That is a great motivation I'm just surprised to hear that from people of your backgrounds."

Ryuji looked at him with a face that seemed to emanate fakely that he was insulted. "Hey, I may act and seem like a delinquent but in a place as ruthless to diversity in people as Japan, a single stigma or false rumor is all it needs to ruin your life. Akira knows that, I know that, Ann knows that, even Yusuke and Makoto know that. I assume you also have a similar issue if the existence of your Palace and what Makoto said your Shadow said to Akechi is anything to go off of."

"...Yeah, my parents died in a car crash that I was unlucky enough to have been in and along with that already crazy trauma my family who are mostly spineless aristocrats demonized me and claimed things like I should have died in my parent's stead."

"...Fucking hell, are you for real?! Wow and I thought Kamoshida alone was a big enough scumbag."

"Don't get me wrong, from what I've heard he still is an evil man who deserves hell for everything he has done to others. For what he did to you, Ann, and the other victims are bad enough to be irredeemable. Madarame and Kaneshiro too, all are people who belittle others for their egos and for themselves. They are just as bad as the devils I call my 'family'. In all honesty, I am a little excited to go to Kaneshiro's Palace. I feel like I've been holding myself back for too long. It feels good to let loose once in a while."

"Y-Yeah man, it does feel a bit cathartic to do this once in a while. What say we start on the equipment quickly before we have to meet up with the others in Kichijoji."

"Right."

Amaya didn't see it but Ryuji was sweating a bit and was a bit jittery from a cause that was slowly vanishing from the pupils in Amaya's eyes. Amaya started by working on pushups while Ryuji was on a treadmill. After a minute Amaya felt a familiar voice invade his thoughts and delivered its usual lines.

**I am thou, thou art I.**

**Thou hast learned the power of trust**

**it shall become the key to freedom**

**and end the sadness in your heart.**

**With the power of the Chariot Arcana**

**thou hast gained the ability to give strength to others.**

**May you get strength in unity.**

Amaya felt a bond with Ryuji formed and in his heart what almost felt like a draft from within before walking over to the training dummy and began to pummel it until the strange urge to vent passed and Amaya was decisively exhausted.

After what felt like hours upon hours of working out Amaya was approached by Ryuji who was holding a towel and plastic glass of water out to him.

"Hey Amaya, it is about 5 so we should get cleaned up and catch the ride to Kichijoji. You really impressed me, man. Despite not looking it you put more effort into that then I believe most sports clubs do in one sitting."

"Heh, thanks. I honestly haven't done a physical activity to that degree in a while. I think it's more a personal principle of mine that I kept going for as long as you did."

"Huh? What do you mean dude? Why did you want to keep going for long as me? I've been going at this for years as a hobby. I don't want you injuring yourself to prove a point."

Amaya felt Ryuji's sincerity and felt a bit embarrassed to admit his reasoning.

"Well. we are all going around Kaneshiro's Palace soon and I don't want to be weak and hold the rest of you back. The last thing I need is to be the cause of someone else's pain because I couldn't do anything to help."

Ryuji shook his head and gave Amaya an almost cocky grin. "Hold us back you said? Dude, you had just awakened and you could hold the damn Reaper back for a while until we showed up. If anything that makes you one of our strongest in the Metaverse by default."

Amaya didn't really know how to respond to that and just chuckled under his breath.

"So uh, anyway. What say we go get cleaned up and head to Kichijoji."

"Sure. We do have to get there before 6 or Ann is going to yell at me for holding you up for what did she call it; a 'masculinity meetup' whatever the hell that means."

"I think she means that you were going to try and show me up here or something since I'm new."

"Oh hell, Ann knows me better than that. I didn't do that to Yusuke when he joined the group."

"Haha, we should get going then to avoid this since it's 5:05 and the train will likely take 45 minutes."

"Oh shit, you're right, let's go!"

Unknown to both of them, someone was listening in on them through Ryuji's phone and had been doing so since Amaya arrived at the gym.

-Yongen Jaya-

"Huh, Amaya has a much darker story than I had expected. Damn, it feels weird that I understand the pain he must have experienced. I mean I did have a very similar issue but not to the extent Amaya had since I got Sojiro. Hmm."

The Orange-haired hacker leaned back in her chair and sighed.

"If Amaya's Palace comes from this issue surrounding his Parents' death then is it possible I could have one as well? ...Well, I could check since I have access to all of their phones. I could type in my name and see if it produces a hit but I don't want the chance it will show up on their search history since it is seemingly magic. Damn what to do, what to do. I guess I will sit back and continue watching for now and see where this leads. I do wonder why out of everything in the group's entire arsenal I can't hack into Amaya's laptop. It almost seems like it has encryption to the level of a cybersecurity company. I wonder why that is the case."

Knock-Knock!

"Futaba, I have your lunch and that new book on Cognitive Psience you asked for."

"Thank you Sojiro! I'll come to get it. Are you heading back to Leblanc now?"

"I am but I will be back soon. If you need anything you know to call me."

As she heard Sojiro's footsteps drift away Futaba Sakura got up and got what Sojiro left for her. When she got back to her chair she remembered something else that was supposed to happen that day.

"Aw Sushi Rolls! I forgot to listen in on Kurusu and the Councilor. Featherman, you let me down there for that distraction. Well, you win some you lose some I guess. Time to watch another Featherman episode before tuning back into the team in the Jazz Bar."

She put her headphones back on and watched and turned on the latest Featherman episode and brought up a GPS of all 6 of the Phantom Thieves she could track and kept a watch on it to know when all of them were in the same place before starting to listen back in.

-Meanwhile in Shinjuku-

Junya Kaneshiro had just received information by one of his associates that a high-value target has been found in Tokyo. Not one to look a potential gift horse in the mouth he dialed up one of his contacts and waited for him and his men to arrive.

After about 20 minutes 5 men walked into the establishment. 4 of them looked buff but sly as would be expected from a group of assassins. The 5th man however seemed to just give off an aura of pressure and a sense of authority to all in his presence. He had spiky red hair and an x shaped scar covering most of his face. He also had 2 katanas sheathed on each side of his belt and he wore all black leather-like a high schooler dragged into a crime ring.

Kaneshiro bowed to the man as he got up to him. "Welcome to my establishment Master Minazuki, it is a pleasure to have you here."

"Out with it." The young man spat in an obviously impatient attitude. "I am not one for formalities. I only came here Kaneshiro because you called and said you received information on one of our targets. Name your price for the info and let's have it."

"Certainly. I only ask for the usual bounty expense of twenty-five thousand yen for the information."

"K." Minazuki moved his head in Kaneshiro's direction and one of his guards walked forward with a briefcase in cand and handed it to Kaneshiro before going back where he was. "Now, the information?"

"Certainly. I have word Naoto and Amaya Shirogane have recently come to Tokyo. Amaya has recently started school at Shujin Academy in Aoyama-Itchome. I don't have the location of their address but I do know that they are currently living in a Penthouse owned by Mitsuru Kirijo."

"That's perfect. Thanks for that info. I will speak with the other members of the Spirit about this new development. I look forward to doing more 'business' with you so you better not disappoint me, Kaneshiro."

"Y-Yessir."

Minazuki and his men walked out and nobody heard Minazuki talking under his breath.

"Dear god. First Tsuda allegedly gets this deal with the Hong Kong Mafia and now I have to worry about this shit. Wow, Sho what shithole have you fallen into now?" Sho Minazuki takes out his phone and sees something appear again. "Godammit Igor, I already told you and your stupid fake ass voice I don't want your fucking app."

After deleting the app with the red eyeball for the something odd time so far, Sho Minazuki continues on his way back to the Spirit hideout thinking about how he can fulfill his long time debt yet also doing it in his own way. This was going to take a while and he full well knew it.

-Chapter End-

**There we go, I'm back into writing. I once again apologize for the seemingly random pseudo hiatus but I am at least now and for the foreseeable future back and ready to continue. As I mentioned int he beginning I have an idea I've been thinking about and am wondering how I would implement it. I am thinking about having the Prequel story to From the Ashes to be written and put out possibly parallel to this story but a bit slower. The prequel will be primarily the story of Persona 4 Arena and Ultimax. I would like to hear your thoughts on this idea and hope to hear what you think soon. I have to thank the P5 writer Kazero for giving me the spark to get back on my feet and hopefully will be here to finish this entire thing and to my ally RosyMiranto18 who has helped me better cement this story out as well as give an extra opinion on an idea whenever I've needed one. One last thing about the Prequel and this chapter before aI close this out. The thing about the prequel is it has many connections to From the Ashes with character motivations and things like those of Sho's which will be further explained at a later date but it also will have hints to characters that will appear in the future. I have a little jumble for you here and if you can figure it you're a genius and can see when they may pop up later on.**

**horut chiaad**

**Okay, the last thing finally. You may notice that I split this chapter in 2 but in my initial idea for this chapter, this wasn't the case. I, when I was writing this chapter, figured out where I wanted to go with this chapter and believed after a bit that the interactions and extra ideas I have planned next chapter that will add more characters and set the full story into motion that I will need extra time that isn't in this speedy burst of inspiration to continue. It won't take long I hope and I hope after next week when my online school year ends that I will have even less to worry about and that I may be able to catch up with what I was unable to put out in this past month of insanity and lockdown. I hope you all the best and hope to see you all next time.**


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